Adventurer Xander
by Chaos Eternus
Summary: Anarchy Online MMORPG cross. Xander dresses as an Adventurer for Halloween...
1. One

**Adventurer Xander  
by Chaoseternus**

Note: I do not own, nor do I claim ownership of characters/concepts from Buffy The vampire Slayer or the Anarchy Online MMORPG

please read and review

**One**

Geez... 18 th century noble women? How obvious can you get buff?'

Shaking his head at the slayer, Xander walked further along, gazing this way and that as he tried to find the perfect costume, or At least, the perfect ten dollar costume.

Plastic guns Well, maybe as standby... Marvel costumes... Cool, but I don't even need to look at the price tags... hmmm... nice black cloak... real nice in fact, just four dollars, Cheap, I'll have to remember its there. Bunch of random armour pieces, heh, mostly broken or pretty well used. Nothing good there.

Oh, swords!

Nice ones too, if these were real, well, they would certainly slice and dice.

Hmm, weird one at the bottom there. Make that weird pair of swords, sharply curved, and etched with flames and fire...

Wait.

Swords marked with fire, black cloak, armour helmet nahh, I couldn't, nobody would ever figure out what it was. Five Dollars for the swords, one for the helmet, four for the cloak, hell, I could actually do it.

Heh, better then a Soldier that's for certain, besides the character type kinda suits me.

Groaning, he rose swiftly to his feet.

"Troxhead... that's worse then a reclaim headache, I must _really _have gotten plastered last night" Blinking, he glanced around. He blinked again, and took a real long look around.

"Well Alex, you really aren't on Rubi'ka anymore are you?"

_"Xander! Xander!" _

Grimacing, Alex glanced around as a young lady in a strange, revealing outfit ran towards him, screaming some name he hadn't heard before. He shrugged the outfit off, having seen an Atrox wearing nothing but a thong, it would have taken a lot more then that to faze him. Yeah, Alex sarcastically reminded himself, like seeing the same Atrox wearing a wedding dress. He shook the image out of his head, but it was difficult. He suspected it was a lost cause, after all seing one of the sexless, dull brutes wearing the dress was why he had gotten drunk in the first place and all that drink hadn't gottent he image out of his head, so he rather suspected nothing would.

Except maybe the young lady stumbling and passing through him.

Alex rather suspected he had set a new record for himself as his swords rose, ready in front of him in an eyeblink.

Damn, he had seen some weird things on the Notum infested Omni dominated hellhole that was Rubi'ka, but beings passing through him was _new. _

Damn it, he should have buffed up as soon as he found himself in a strange place, he would be in real trouble if a real opponent, maybe some Omni flunkey came along now.

"What in notums name are you?"

"WillowI'mWillow,wedressedupforhalloween,IwentasaghostandohmygodI'maghostandyouareXanderandyouwentaswhateveryouareandthisisbadweneedtofindBuffyandGilesandgetthissorted"

His eyebrows rose, dressed up for Halloween? Well, he knew it was possible to change forms, he did that quite often, but what she was talking about would require personality transfer at least...

"Bloody Omnitek!" He had little doubt that those corporate clowns were involved with this; after all, nobody knew more about body transfer and reincarnation and the meta-physical technologies then them. At least, no-one that he was aware off.

"Fine, I'll buff up then we'll go after this Enforcer Buffy and the Meta-physicist Giles okay?"

"Enforcer? Meta-physicist?" Willow asked, but Alex just ignored her, he was too busy casting nano-programs. To Willow, it looked as if her lifelong buddy had suddenly learned magic and become quite adept at it.

"Damnit" Alex cursed as he suddenly came under attack, a swarm of Rollerrat sized monsters trying to claw their way through his looted Exarch robe, "couldn't have waited till I had finished buffing could you?"

"Wait, they're kids!"

Growling, he kicked one of the monsters away from him and turned to Willow, "how do I kill these?"

"You can't! They're children that were turned into their costumes"

Alex glanced at her eyes and saw no sign of doubt, that combined with his almost instinctive desire to trust her made him sigh, and turn back to the monsters, his calmer loaded into his Nano Controlling Unit and executing like crazy.

"I am going to need to refill my Nanopool after this" he grumbled, kicking a pint sized monster back into the path of the calmer he had just cast.

Finally, he turned to the somewhat wide eyed ghost and sarcastically said, "There, calmed, happy?"

Willow just glanced around at the still, sleepy monsters and nodded, mutely.

"Good, then where"

A scream made him look up to see a young lady in an elegant red gown run around the corner, chased by a horde of monsters.

"A train. Oh _joy" _

"That's Buffy! In the red dress2

A double groan; couldn't just run away then and there were far too many to calm. The swords rose as Alex prepared to meet the train of monsters, just hoping he would be able to give the girls enough time to get away before he found himself at reclaim.

"The tall ones you can kill!"

Ahh... perfect.

He swung once at the nearest tall monster and the thing fell to the ground, swiftly consumed by the fire from his Sol Fire Executioners, exploding into dust in seconds. Alex grinned, he knew there was a reason he loved those, despite it being illegal to import them to Rubi'ka.

He swung again, and another monster dusted. Again... again...

Uncertain now, the mob almost as one took a step back and began exchanging somewhat wary glances. Alex swung a fifth time and a fifth monster vanished into dust. In unison, the mob turned and fled.

"What type of monsters were those?" Alex asked, turning to Willow, who had a quivering Buffy at her side.

"Vampires... what kind of swords are those? It usually takes beheading, a wooden stake to the heart or fire to kill those"

"Fire?" Alex smiled, yeah he really loved his swords now, "these things have nanobots on the blade edge which attack any wounds the blade causes, making the material around the wound ignite"

Willow blanched, but gestured ahead anyway, "Buffy's house is this way"

"Then that's where we'll camp, lead the way" Alex ordered, glad that he seemed to be the highest level of this group. That Willow... something about her just screamed NanoTech, but she didn't show any signs of using such technology. Must be new, or unskilled. That Buffy though, he really hoped it was just the weirdness making her such a Leet, otherwise she was just roadkill. Something about her twigged his sense though, he couldn't pin it down but she was definitely a Tank, be it Martial Artist, Soldier or Enforcer there was something about her that screamed fighter, despite current appearances.

"This is not me! I wouldn't dress like that harlot in the painting!"

Alex sighed, she was really getting on his nerves. And now she seemed set on charging out of the house in disgust, and well, he couldn't have that.

"What did you do to Buffy?" Willow asked, outraged.

Alex shrugged, "just calmed her, she will be fine, relax... in fact, I think you need to waltz over to this Giles' and see if he can figure out what or who is causing this notum infested dream"

A blue light hit her as she dived through the walls of the house and Willow found herself running, fast. Like Buffy in a hurry fast. Like, Buffy on speed and running to prevent an apocalypse fast.

It took Willow all of fifteen seconds to figure out that Xander... Alex had used some kind of speed boaster on her. It took her far longer to figure out how to stop.

Alex was woken up from a light doze as Willow crashed into the room.

"Did Giles know how to end this?"

"He's heading for Ethan's, Cordelia came by and she wasn't turned. We were able to figure out that it was only those who got their costumes from him who have been effected plus Giles seemed to know and loathe the guy and why is Angel calmed?"

Alex shook his head, "Willow, breathe, air needed to live and talk. You know this guy?"

"Yeah, he's Angel and he's good, only one with a soul"

"Right" Alex glanced at Angel's eyes and decided not to risk it, "well he won't mind waiting here till we got this mess sorted out then. Keep the wimp here too"

Alex ran from the house, his swords carving red lines through the air as he raced towards his destination, the shop known as Ethan's.

Not even slightly winded, he came to a stop outside the shop, glad one more of his innate ability as an Adventurer to find his way, always. Then, a feral grin crossed his face as he comtemplated scare tactics, these guys don't seem to have Nanotechnolgy, so lets see if they can recognise a polymorph'

A few seconds of casting later it was done, and Alex padded into the shop.

Ethan gleefully raised his pint glass into the air, his eyes leaving the scrying mirror which was showing him the chaos he was causing for just a moment to rest on his beer, raised in celebration.

He stilled, _"was that a..." _

A growl sounded behind him, and with a gulp Ethan slowly turned around.

Behind him was a cat, a big cat.

A great big honking black pelted sabre-toothed tiger of a cat.

Ethan gulped, "Nice kitty"

Damn, he knew he hadn't sold that costume, maybe this thing escaped from the local zoo in the chaos?

"End the casting"

The voice was guttural, deep, growlly and threatening, it swiftly dispelled Ethan's notion of this being an escapee. Whoever this was, they were human under this. He decided to try bluffing it out.

"I'm afraid I don't have a clue what you're talking about"

The cat seemed to think about this for a moment, them with a paw it casually knocked one of the empty mannequins over and placed its jaws over the dolls head.

Crunch  
The colour fled from Ethan's face as the shattered plastic that was once the mannequins head dropped to the floor at his feet. He couldn't mistake that message.

"Statue of Janus... destroy it!"

A yellow glow passed over him and Ethan knew no more.

Coward Alex cursed as he dropped the Sabretooth form to make it easier to manoeuvre in the tiny shop, "Now where's that bust?"

Xander smiled, his eyes following the girls as the walked from the Library celebrating the end to the chaos and the return to themselves.

He was about to run and follow them when a line of green text crossed his sight, Nanoprogram Shield: Lure of the Pincushion Terminated, 103 of 140 Nano Controlling Units used'

What the fuck? He asked himself, but shrugged it off. He was imagining things, he had to be.


	2. Two

**Adventurer Xander  
by Chaoseternus**

Two 

Well, finding some quiet time away from the gang had been tricky but damn, was he glad he had. They were going to freak out enough when he told them of this side effect of Halloween without watching him destroy the Library as he practised, like he had destroyed this clearing. They would certainly have tried their damned hardest to bind his powers to keep him safe and out of the fighting' after that.

Especially after the first time he had tried to cast a polymorph...

Sheesh, all he wanted to do was turn into a Leet, easiest form to change into and one that was stealthy and fast as hell, even if you _really _ didn't want to attempt fighting in it.

But no, he had to fumble the nanoprogram execution and not in a minor way either. Well, at least he knew where reclaim was now, and unsurprisingly enough he was reformed into a new body at Ethan's and had to reclaim whatever possessions he had on him from the shattered abandoned remnants of the Janus statue. That at least made a kind of sense; after all it was the statue and the shop that had been the focus for Ethan's spell.

Bet Ethan didn't expect this to happen though.

Pity his character hadn't been wearing Carbonium armour, he could have done with the buffs, the skills boasts, in particular the NCU increase it offered, still beggars couldn't be choosers and a full set of Cyber Armour was nice enough stuff.

Now he just had to figure out two... well, three things.

One: How to explain his new status as a nano-wielding Adventurer to the rest of the gang.

Two: How to deal with the judge that guy registered as level 100 on his scope and that put him out of his league... not by much perhaps, he had hit level 92 after all, but he still wouldn't want to face him on his lonesome.

Unfortunately, he might have too, Buffy, Willow and the gang didn't have the ability to use nanoprograms and that left them far more vulnerable then he was. Whether they knew it or not, he was now the heavy hitter of the group, which led neatly onto:

Three: How to get the rest of the gang using nano-programs.

And Xander had to admit, he saw no reason they _couldn't _ use such programs, so long as he could get each of them equipped properly. After all, just because this universe hadn't discovered the technologies didn't mean it wasn't possible, hell, he was proof alone that nano-programs worked here.

The rub was, packrat though his possession might have been, not ever throwing anything that might be useful out, a fact which left Xander with an inventory just groaning with masses of backpacks loaded with what some might charitable call junk, his supplies weren't limitless. Yes, he had some spare armour, yes he had spare Nano-controlling units and yes he had spares of the essential Deck Component Belts, without which it was damned near impossible to use nano-technology, but did he have enough?

For that matter, what would happen once they reached the level where those spares he had would become constricting?

Xander sighed, for that matter, what about himself? He too would soon need new supplies and upgrades for himself and there was no way he could get them on earth, hell, there was no way to make most of the items without supplies, such as Notum, which plain didn't exist on Earth. Notum, that essential ingredient for Nano-technology only existed on Rubi'ka and there was no way in hell he could get there.

Xander shrugged, jumped to his feet and without a backward glance at the ruined clearing, headed for the library. What would be would be after all, and maybe, just maybe, Willow would turn out to be a Meta-Physicist or Nano-Technician. If she did, she might just be able to combine the knowledge of Magic she already had with the knowledge of Nanotechnology he would teach her to find some way of creating new or replacement items for the team.

It never occurred to Xander that he had spent fifteen minutes thinking of how to help his friends for every one he thought for himself and it is a measure of the man that he was, that if anyone had pointed that out to him, he would most likely have shrugged it off as being the right way to do things.

It is perhaps a sign of his sense of humour however that his way of dropping the news was to run into the library in full Adventurer gear, rapidly executing his calming nano to keep the gang locked in place, then before their startled, angry, surprised and unwillingly locked gazes, run a ploymorphing nano on himself, turning his own form into that of a Dog. A two-headed Dog at that; then let them draw their own conclusions.

It didn't take them that long, but he decided to quickly explain himself before the calmers run out. He really didn't want to know if he could calm Buffy fast enough to stop her trying to kill him and frankly, he didn't want to find out.

"Good Lord"

Xander smiled, his eyes still following Buffy's tense form somewhat edgily. She hadn't attacked him though, not yet, but she was still looking at him like she hadn't made her mind up about whether the new' Xander was a threat or not. He could see it in her eyes though, Buffy said Friend, but the Slayer said Potential Threat. But then, that part of her was often the last to trust.

"Well... Good Lord"

Xander cracked a smirk at that one, "Seven Good Lords', I must be Good, even the Master didn't rate that many"

Giles shot him a slight glare at that, and Buffy tried, unsuccessfully, to hide a smile. Good, Xander thought, she's coming around.

"See thing is, if I can use nanotechnology here, I see no reason why you cant too" Xander added.

"Would be an advantage"

"Yes, quite Willow, but from what you have said you need certain items to use nanotechnology which Im afraid we will not be able to acquire, not in this universe at least though there are ways around that"

Xander's ears pricked up at that, but didn't think it was time to comment, they had the Judge to deal with after all.

"Well, I don't have time to teach you how to use the nanotech now, we have the Judge to deal with after all, but..."

"The Mall"

Oz shrugged at their surprised glances, "Lots of people in one place, no sunlight inside"

"He's right" Giles replied, his hands working once more at cleaning his glasses, "it's perfect"

"So we know where the Judge is going, how do we deal with him?"

Xander shrugged, waiting for the storm to hit, "You don't... I do"

"You can't! You'll get killed"

"Gotta agree with Buffy here, even with your new powers, Xander death does seem in the offing here and Xander death? Not a happy thought"

Xander smiled reassuringly at his Willow, "Your right. If I face him _alone _ I will die just like Buffy did when she faced the Master alone, and considering how the Judge kills, it might be permanent..."

"Wait _, might be permanent?" _Buffy interrupted.

Xander grimaced at the looks the gang were now sending him, he had hoped this wouldn't come up, "I ended up at reclaim five times whilst trying to relearn all the adventurer knew about nano-technology"

"Reclaim?"

Willow glanced at Buffy, and quietly replied, "Means he died Buffy"

Xander covered his ears, wishing he didn't have such a high perception rating as the dismayed babble filled the room. Damn, he didn't have time for this; _they _ didn't have time for this.

The babble stopped, and Xander glanced up to see the rest of the scoobies looking at him somewhat guiltily.

He sighed, dropped his hands and reached into his inventory; enjoying the looks on his friends faces as objects appeared on the table in front of him from apparently nothing.

"I don't have time to teach you how to use nanotech before we have to deal with the judge so you are going to put these on, I will execute as many programs as I can onto you to assist you and then we leg it for the mall, understood?"

Mutely, they nodded and Xander began handing his presents out, "Willow, Blackmanes Belt Component Platform, normally No-drop so you cant give it away once you've got it, but from what I remember, this was hacked by a level 190 Engineer out for a challenge, the rest of you, T-100's instead of Blackmanes, less capable I'm afraid but I've only got one Blackmanes and I want Willow to have that"

"What, do we just put this on?"

Xander smiled, "yes Buffy, you just put it on. Don't worry about it clashing with your outfit either, they are designed to blend in"

"Right" doubtfully, Buffy put hers on first and then blinked as it seemed it vanish into her clothes, "neat"

Less reluctantly, the others put their belts on, followed swiftly by the Morphing Memories Xander instructed then to place inside the Belts to increase the number of Nano-programs he could execute on them.

Then, he had to dive into his archive of low level Nano-programs and began casting, starting with Armour Increase buffs and Damage Reflect Shields. For all bar Willow, he had to stop with just two programs. For Willow, with her better Belt, he was able to execute a much needed buff to her Blunt Weapons Skill too.

Xander had to smile as the belts went on, and the group one by one registered on his senses. Willow had turned out to be a Meta-physcist which didn't have Xander surprised, it had been a toss-up between Nano-technician or Meta-Physicist because of her geeky tendencies, Nano-technician was a scientist type role which she was suited for certainly, but Meta-Physicist was more compatible with her interest in Magic.

Giles turned out to be a Bureaucrat and Xander had to stifle a chuckle at that, Giles would get miffed at that one, good thing he didn't know how to check his own stats yet, but then he would soon enough.

Buffy showed up as a Martial Artist, another non-surprise. Her tendency to use her body as a weapon, plus her liking for Bows clued him in on that a while ago, but due to the Slayer part of her nature, Enforcer was always a possibility, there were after all fast brutal attackers, always in the front of the fight.

Oz got Adventurer and Xander was pleased about that, it was the profession most likely to be able to help him control the beast within. After all, no other profession got anywhere near the sheer volume of polymorphs or shape shifts that the Adventurers had available to them and the Werewolf was just an uncontrolled Polymorph really.

Jenny ended up as the Nano-technician and Xander had to grimace, he had suspected that but he had hoped for a Doctor to show up in the team somewhere. It seemed he and Oz would have to take up that role, after all Adventurers were second only to Docs for their ability to heal themselves and others, but when push came to shove, they were still just second best.

Still, they were ready, now to deal with the Judge.

Xander really really regretted being the Tank for this attack, getting hit with those blasted bolts hurt like a son of a bitch but he had no choice really, Buffy had a level boast thanks to the Slayer Spirit, and once she learned the basics of NanoTech he had no doubt she would be more then able to give him a run for his money but until then, he still had the edge, was still causing the most damage.

Of course, causing the most damage meant the Judge focused his fury on him allowing Buff to cause damage whilst he just struggled to stay alive, running his Self-Heal nano at every opportunity. Still, for now at least they were holding even, the vampire minions at least had been run off by the rest of the team and the Mall evacuated so at least no civilians were at...

Damn, that _hurt. _

Groggily, Xander slipped his hand into his inventory, quickly utilized a treatment kit to heal a lot of his injuries, and a nano-recharger to replace the nanos he had used fighting the judge, rose back to his feet from where the Judge had tossed him. Tossing off a Quick Team Heal to help his team with their injuries, he dived back into the fight, once again taking the Judges attention off a now battered Buffy.

"Surreal Oz" noted laconically.

Giles nodded; slightly agape as he tried to follow the fast flowing fight in front of him as Buffy, Xander and the Judge fought and had to agree. He knew Xander had Polymorphs, used to change form but up till now he had assumed they were cosmetic. He had to concede however that cosmetic they certainly didn't seem to be as a Two Headed Dog, normally Buffy and a Sabre-Toothed Tiger, normally Xander fought with the Blue skinned demon that was the Judge.

"You know" Willow commented, "Someone abandoned a video camera over there"

Oz and Giles followed his gaze, the same thought crossing their minds. Jenny however got there first, and the camera started running.

There was a collective wince, "Did she just bite the judge... you know, there?" Willow asked and Oz and Giles nodded, perfectly in time with each other.

There was a collective 'oh' as the Sabre-toothed Xander clenched his jaws around the Judges head and squeezed.

"Headache" Oz commented, his hand dipping into the popcorn Willow was now casually handing around, showing no concern what so ever that Xander and Buffy might not succeed.

"I _knew _ it," Giles shared an exasperated glance with Willow as the unmistakable tones of Cordelia Chase filled the Mall, "I knew if anything freaky was going on you would be involved. Say, where's Buffy and dweeb boy?"

"Buffy is the Two-headed Dog, Xander's the Sabretooth" Willow answered, somewhat reluctantly.

Cordelia blinked,"That's... actually cool. Why is it that if anyone else had said that, I would be questioning their sanity, you lot and I just say, oh, that's cool?"

"Oh," Willow added, a little off-put at the thought, "Xander said he had presents for you too"

"Yeah, like I would want anything that Dweeb boy was..."

"You may, lord forbid, end up able to do the shape shifting too"

Cordelia swiftly changed tacks, ignoring the muffled chuckles her switch brought, "Of course, I always love presents, especially from such a good friend as Xander..."

"Errmmm, arm" Oz commented, backing away as the offending blue appendage skittered to the floor at his feet.

"They shouldn't take much longer" Giles commented.

"Good" Cordelia responded, "I want the presents you promised me"

Xander grimaced, and then shuddered, resisting the urge to clean his eyeballs with hydrochloric acid. She couldn't, she wouldn't

But she was.

Damn, how in the hell had the Queen Bitch of Sunnydale ended up with that profession? She wasn't exactly caring or even considerate and yet for whatever reason, her new nanocontroller had decided she was most fit to be a Doctor.

Cordelia, a Doctor.

Xander resisted the urge to whimper, but it was a struggle. Then, he remembered that he would have to tell Cordelia at some point and he gave up the struggle, and whimpered aloud.


	3. Three

**Adventurer Xander  
by Chaoseternus**

**Three**

Xander grimaced, a dull ache pulsing through his mind. Damn, he must have been right on the edge for that new polymorph. A new form was always a fun thing, but each successive one required greater skills to wield and it seemed he had called his skill level a little tight for this one. Still, it was worth it

He cast; his nanopool draining slowly as he laboriously cast the nano-program. The glow of active nano-programs surrounded him for just a moment, then he was gone, a blue fading halo of dead nanites marking where his body used to be, before being scattered away by the wind.

 _"Wahhhhoooooo!" _

He was... alive. It was the only way to describe it, the ground flashing beneath his clawed feet, flitting side to side to avoid trees and telephone poles, the rush over air across his wings

It was life and exhilaration, that was the only way Xander could describe it, flying around as a green and red bird, a reet, a native of Rubi'ka. He could see how some adventurers could get addicted to this; to lose there minds in the morph.

A feeling twigged at his senses, like darkness and evil and Xander sighed, flicking a mental switch in his head. This wasn't the time for fun now, his perception was telling him that a Vampire was in the area.

It was time to hunt.

Alert now, he flitted across the roof tops to the bronze, the most likely location for the bloodsucker that was setting his senses off, and began peering into the darkness between the buildings, glad that he had equipped his night vision goggles before morphing himself into his new form.

Not one of them, two, following some hot chick whose dark outfit just screamed attitude. Swiftly, silently he took a look around, checking for other vamps or demons that might become a threat, there was none, but he could see the team running up in the distance. Well, they would be a little late for this show but it was always nice to know backup was on its way even if you didn't need it, and with just two vampires below, Xander certainly didn't need help.

Fltting to the edge of the bronze, he dived off into the dark, cancelling the polymorph that had shifted him into the bird form as he dived into the blackness. In an instant, he was human again. With a flick, the Sol Fire Executioners, his faithful swords appeared in his hands as he dived, his eyes firmly on the back of his target.

Xander blinked, and then muttered 'oh shit' as his target dusted and his nice soft cushion abruptly disappeared. He rolled, trying to shift to take the landing on his feet but wasn't fast enough, with a crack of breaking bones he crashed into the ground.

He glanced up, his hands instinctively pulling a first aid kit from his inventory just in time to see the second Vampire burst into dust, a stake held firmly in the hands of the brunette who was now looking at him somewhat warily.

"So," Oz's winded voice sounded nearby as Xander groaned, reaching for a full Treatment Kit for his injuries, "I'm going to go out on a limb and say there's a new slayer in town..."

* * *

"What, you tripping me?"

Xander shock his head, grinning wryly, "No, I'm not 'tripping' you"

"Perhaps," Giles commented, "a demonstration might be in order"

Xander shrugged, and began casting Playful Cub.

Faith shot backwards in her seat, more then a little shocked as the young man turned into a two headed dog right in front of her eyes. The creature took a step towards her and a crash filled the room as her seat bounced off the floor, Faith still in it.

Muffled chuckles filled the room, and Faith glared around, angry and embarrassed as the two-headed dog disappeared, Xander in his more normal, i.e. human form reappearing in front of her eyes.

"What, you saying I might be able to do that?"

Xander nodded, "yes, but it all depends on which profession the nano-controller, that's the piece of kit which stores and enables you to use this technology, thinks you are best suited for. Polymorphs, shape shifting is a purely adventurer thing, only me and Oz can do it. Buffy pulled martial artist which as she is a Slayer is pretty reasonable, Giles pulled bureaucrat" Xander shrugged "and so on"

Faith nodded, "cool, this mean I can kick arse better?"

Buffy grinned, "oh yes, oh very yes"

Faith glanced around, her smile growing larger at the very enthusiastic agreement with the other Scooby's, well all bar one of them.

"What, you don't agree C?"

Cordelia shook her head, almost smiling, "I pulled Doctor, which means if you get injured in a fight I'm the one that will be shoving the largest needle I can find where the sun doesn't shine if you don't get back into the fight and finish the job"

Faith's eyes widened, then she shuddered, not that she minded a little S&M occasionally, but Still

"So, all I have to do is team up, let you guys bee my friends and all?" Faith tried to hide a hopeful grin at the word friends, but it didn't work, both Giles and Xander noticed and memorised the look for future investigation, "Cool, where do I sign up?"

Xander grinned, "picking the Blackmanes Belt Willow had first used off the table, just put this one for a start, and don't worry, it will automatically blend into whatever you are wearing"

Faith glanced at it doubtfully, but did as she was told.

"Huh" the muttered exclamation drew Oz a few looks, with a shrug, he nodded at Faith, "Enforcer"

Xander glanced across, then nodded, "true"

He hid a smirk as, perfectly on cue, Buffy asked, "I'm missing something aren't I?"

"Well," Giles spoke and Xander waited for the glasses to come off, which they did quite quickly, "I had assumed that, like you, Faith would be a Martial Artist"

"What? Disappoint you did I?"

Xander snapped his head up, glaring fiercely into Faiths somewhat hurt eyes, "No!"

He sighed a little at the shocked look on Faiths face as she backed off, "Geez, X, take a chill pill"

"Enforcers," he held Faith's gaze firmly as he spoke, hoping to impress upon her how seriously he meant what he was saying. "Are the front line of any team, fast and brutal in a melee, the ability of an Enforcer to take and deal damage is matched only by a soldier."

"Enforcers are often first into the fight, using their superior ability to take damage to help keep the team safe, their superior ability to deal damage to keep the enemies attention on themselves, relying on the other members to heal them"

"What? Is that all I am to you? A meatshield?"

"No! You want me to put this bluntly, fine. Your needed, your wanted, as an enforcer you are an essential part of the team and beyond that I hope we... can... become..." He frowned, and then sighed, his tone switching from forceful to conversational, "and your taking the piss aren't you?"

A muffled snort sounded behind him, and Xander shot Giles a dirty look.

"He noticed" Xander glanced at his lifelong friend and groaned at the faux-proud look that was being sent his way.

"Quick too... who did you let him go red?"

"What is this? Pick on Xander day?"

"You date Cordelia"

Xander glanced, a little startled at Oz at the apparent sudden shift in the conversation, then grimaced as it sunk in, "everyday is pick on Xander day when dating Cordy, got it"

He ignored the muffled chuckles, pretending the joke was beneath him, but no-one missed the glow that lit his eyes at seeing his friend's happy, carefree if only for a moment.

* * *

"Well, that was fun" Buffy dryly commented, brushing vampire dust off her clothes, "where did all these extra vampires come from anyways?"

Willow nodded, pausing her healing of her fighting pet, "they seemed a little too intelligent to have been around the hellmouth that long"

Faith winced, her new friends were going to hate her for this, ah well, it was nice having friends for once even if she was going to lose them right now, like as soon as she opened her mouth...

"They're after me," Faith looked Xander defiantly in the eyes, "followed me from Boston, Kaskistos is their Master, he's been trying to kill me for months"

"You trained a master vampire on us? Faith how could you?" he held his heart, his entire manner screaming he had been wounded. Even Faith couldn't mistake that for anything other then the piss being taken.

"Aw, can it X" she shook her head, somewhat surprised at his response; he was acting as if he felt they were still friends. Could he really mean to still be her friend after tthis? After the trouble he had brought into town?

"Yes, do 'can it' Xander. Kaskistos is a very real threat and we will need to deal with him carefully"

"I was thinking napalm"

"Not exactly subtle Buffy, besides what if they have a few ready meals on hand? Wouldn't want to kill the unlucky civilians too"

"X has a point their Buff, whole point is to keep people alive and in case you didn't notice fire spreads and lots of wooden buildings in town" Faith at this point was trying, and failing to hide a smile, they didn't even seem to care, they were acting like it was just another day in the job, she would still have her friends!

"Okay, okay point taken; I'll remember to run subtlety in my NCU, okay?"

"You have such a program Buffy?"

"Oh, zinged by the watcher for twenty points! Way to go Gilester" Faith smiled, shaking her head.

"Excuse me for asking" Xander held his hand up, as if wanting to ask the teacher a question, "but Faith, what does an Enforcer know about subtlety?"

"Enough that I don't have to look it up in one of Giles books"

"That's a Ten" Xander smiled at Oz, as Giles tried to get the group back under control.

"Yes, well back on subject"

"same as always? Frontal assault?"

Xander glanced across at Buffy, shrugging, "fine by me"

"Five by five here"

"Jenny, Giles, Willow, you're the brains, find us a time and a place and we'll go a hunting" Buffy said, kicking herself off the table in the centre of the Library.

"Right, Xander, Oz, recon the usual haunts, we'll see what we can dig up from here"

"Xander, may I have the bird please"

Xander grinned as Oz suddenly blinked, having been presented with raised middle fingers from most of the people in the room.

"I think maybe I could have phrased that better"

Xander chuckled, shaking his head slightly, "sorry, only have the Self version of that nano running at the moment, and getting that loaded was a struggle"

Oz nodded, "playful cub it is"

* * *

 

Xander had to admit that tracking down the latest big bad was a breeze nowadays, you just put word out about who was in your shit list and the bulk of Sunnydale's demonic population suddenly found their survival urges kicking in, resulting in a swarm of messages by phone, note and other methods about where the latest target was.

It was helpful, but somewhat surreal, but if they wanted to live on the hellmouth, the resident population had quickly learned that the law' in Sunnydale had teeth (literally) and wasn't above clamping them down on somebody, or rather, something's head. It made for a wonderfully fearful cooperation that helped keep the residents safe. Of course, some never learned but their numbers were dwindling swiftly.

That left him in his current interesting position, in his bird form gazing through the skylights of a warehouse waiting for the gang to arrive, gazing down at what was, even for a vampire master, a rather high level monster.

Damn, he was glad no-one was going into face that alone. He was high enough level himself now that, in theory, he had a chance in a one on one fight, but with the minions around too? No, this called for the team to deal out an arse-kicking.

* * *

Trick blinked.

He closed his eyes; firmly screwing them shut, and then opened them again.

He pinched himself, just to check that he was actually awake.

Then ran, cursing into the warehouse as if he had just seen a large group of large, black pelted sabre-toothed monsters charging towards him

* * *

Kaskistos glanced up angrily as the door to his warehouse was rather unnecessarily, considering it hadn't been locked, blown off its hinges and into the forms of the three vampire guards who had been standing behind it.

He raised an eyebrow in slight surprise, and then glanced at the dust pile that was once Mr Trick, "my apologies, it appears there _were _ sabre-toothed cats charging towards the warehouse," he thought for a moment, contemplating the dust pile, "well, I wont be misjudging anything you say again it seems"

Shrugging, the aged misshapen master Vampire headed off to destroy the interlopers, hoping for a chance to try the blood of the sabretooths, they were new to him, and he had tried many animals over the years, few of which compared to humans

* * *

"Damn, this is _cool, _when do I get to do this?"

"Sorry faith," Xander managed to spit out, as his claws decapitated another vampire, "adventurers only"

"Damn, can I swap?"

Xander rolled his eyes, no pausing in the slaughter of the hapless vampires,"nope"

""Guys? Help here?"

Xander glanced over at Cordys annoyed screech and blanched, oh bugger, Kaskistos was hitting on her... His mind shut down, overloaded by the disturbing images his slip of the tongue had caused, Kaskistos was hitting her, hitting her, not _on _ her.

Damn it, she wasn't going to let him forget in a hurry that he had totally missed Kaskistos sneaking past to attack their doc. Well, he thought philosophically as he manoeuvred into position behind Kaskistos, seems he wouldn't be doing any jumping into closets with Cordy for a while, shame.

He reared back, shifting all his weight to his back legs and waited a tic as Cordy shot him an annoyed look and dived off to one side. Then, he sprang, aiming to place his 250 pounds of sabretoothed tiger directly onto the master vampires back.

He grunted satisfied as Kaskistos's head hit the ground with a satisfying crack. He knew that wouldn't put the vampire down, but he sure as hell would feel it.

"Oh _shit" _ was the next thing Xander found himself saying as Kaskistos reared up, throwing Xander off his back with all the force the ancient master vampire could muster. It was a _lot _ of force, and Xander blacked out as his head hit the walls on the other side of the warehouse.

* * *

"Ow, what hit me?"

Xander resisted the urge to groan as Cordeilia's voice assaulted his ears, damn but he loved her, but she wouldn't know what a bedside manner was if it danced in front of her wearing a neon green blazer with Bedside Manner emblazed in neon yellow

He thought for a moment, no she would most likely faint out of sheer fashion horror at the thought

"The wall, about twenty vampires who decided that an unconscious Xander was a far nicer prospect then fighting any of the rest of the team, most of the force of the area effect nano Jenny sent to 'encourage' those vamps to bother someone else and the floor about twenty times. We had a devil of a time getting you back from the warehouse"

"Geez, sugar-coat it for me why don't you Cordy?"

"I did, otherwise you would know what we dropped you into by accident a few times on the way back. Your clothes are being burned by the way"

Dropped me into Xander groaned, closing his eyes to save his aching head from the bright light above his head, no, I don't want to know

"Good thing too... aren't dog owners supposed to clean up after their animals? And that warden coming along asking us to clean up after you, it wasn't even your..."

Xander's hands instinctively rose in defence of his sanity, blocking Cordelia's next words, "I really _don't _ want to know"

"Probably a good thing" Cordelia replied once Xanders hand was gone, she walked, grinning to the door, "you don't want to know what it took to get you out of the pound either"

_"What!"_


	4. Chapter 4

**Adventurer Xander  
by Chaoseternus**

**Four**

Xander had to admit, he wasn't used to this, not since Halloween.

Legging it, showing a clean pair of heels, tactical withdrawal, retreat, however you phrased it, it was running away from the fight. Unfortunately, he didn't exactly have much of a choice.

Okay, so they had known the Mayor was dirty for ages but they had never quite figured out how he was dirty, so they had decided on surveillance. Of course, it had to be him on surveillance when the Mayor suddenly gained the 100 reflect shield, and worse still, came out to gloat, showing all to clearly that he knew he was there all along.

Fun, not.

But at least they had an idea what was going on now, the Mayor had been a little to busy gloating and not busy enough watching his words

Xander really didn't like the sound of the word 'ascension', it promised trouble, with a very capital T.

* * *

"Oh dear lord"

"Okay," Faith commented, "why is it that when Giles uses that tone of voice I start to fell the urge to run away?"

"Well," Giles said, furiously rubbing his glasses, "whilst there are no confirmed records of an ascension, there is at least one recorded instance of a town being destroyed in what was _suspected_ to be an ascension"

"An entire town?" Jenny asked.

Giles glanced across at his wife, "I'm afraid so"

"So," Buffy commented, wryly, "ascension not of the good, check"

Xander shook his head, "he has what appears to be a 100 reflect shield running, which means all the damage we inflict on him will affect us instead. For all practical purposes, that makes him invulnerable"

"How long will he be invulnerable for?" Oz quietly asked; his expression pensive.

"We'll need to research it," Giles responded, prompting more then a few half-hearted groans, "but I would assume until he ascends. We really need the books he is using to ascend though to properly determine that though, this may be part and parcel of the process"

Xander shook his head, "if we had an agent, I would say try for a stealthy extraction of the books, but we don't. We would have to go frontal and with an invulnerable opponent, that's not a good idea"

"Yes, and Wilkins will no doubt keep the books close by until his ascension" Giles added, as he walked towards the stacks of books.

"We will still need to keep tabs on him though" Willow commented.

Xander shook his head again, "too dangerous, he sees us as a threat still, he certainly made enough of an effort to have me killed earlier, and he appears to know exactly what each of our polymorphs looks like, so no hiding in a different form either"

Jenny nodded," then we need remote surveillance of some sort"

Xander nodded, "that would work, but as we have no engineer it would all have to be modern' technology, making it far easier for the Mayor to discover and possibly pervert"

"I agree," Giles carefully didn't shrug as he walked back down from the stacks with a massive pile of volumes which towered over his head, "Jenny, Willow, you're both far more up to date with technology then we are, I think you would be the best bet to set that up"

* * *

"Well," Willow commented wryly, glaring at the shattered remnants of what had been a perfectly good, if school issue, computer, "that didn't go as planned"

Jenny nodded, annoyed, she was after all the one who was going to have to explain the loss of a fairly valuable asset to the troll, aka Principal Snyder, "he must have warded his offices against technological snooping"

"He has," they both turned at the quiet, fearful voice from behind them, their eyes widening as they saw a familiar figure, "I have some information for you, about Wilkins plans"

Willow grinned, this could really be the break they needed, "of course Mr Finch, why don't you join us in the library"

* * *

"a demonic snake," Xander said grimly, "at graduation?"

"Yes, I'm afraid so" was the quiet, fearful surprise, "he intends to eat the entire graduating class to give him the strength he requires, I suspect its why he set the town up here in the first place"

Buffy cursed, "Meaning we can't even rely on him to stop with just the graduating class"

"No, I am afraid we can't" Giles said, cleaning his glasses once more, "remember the only time we suspect an ascension actually occurred, an entire town was destroyed"

"Will he be invulnerable when he ascends?" Xander asked, glancing at Giles.

"Well," Giles leafed quickly through the stack of papers Finch had been kind enough to provide, "I don't know yet, but considering Mr Finch was kind enough to ah, photocopy the books of ascension for us, I should be able to find out in relatively short order"

Buffy nodded, "we will have to proceed under the assumption that he will lose his invulnerability as soon as he ascends, if he doesn't there is nothing we can do anyway"

"Agreed" Giles commented distracted, his eyes firmly on the papers he was reading through.

"Can we kill a full demon?2 Oz asked, quietly.

Xander grimaced, "if he loses his invulnerability, and that's a big if, we can kill him, we will just have to figure out how. What I am worried about is how high level a demon he will show up as"

"At a guess," Giles glanced momentarily across from his desk, "anywhere between first and third circle"

"Translation, we can't rely on being able to team him" Jenny replied.

"No,"Xander replied frankly, "if he is that high then he could potentially kill us in one or two swipes, good as she is getting, even Cordelia cant heal us that fast, Oz and I will need to be concentrating on fighting too, so that leaves us out of support healing and Willows healing pets can only work on one person at a time"

"So," Buffy shook her head, unsurprised, "frontal assault won't work this time, we're actually going to have to be inventive"

"Yes," Xander replied.

"We need some overkill" Willow commented.

Oz smirked, slightly, "there is no overkill, there is only Open Fire! And I need to reload"

"Rule 37" Giles commented, not really paying attention, his eyes still on the papers in front of him.

Xander, Oz and Willow all glanced at him, eyes wide; mouth on the floor, but it was Xander who commented, gleefully, "Giles, you've read Schlock Mercenary! How 21 st century of you"

Willow smirked, "I knew you were doing something on the 'dread machine', but I didn't realise it involved looking at web comics"

"Oh bloody hell" was Giles only response.

"Still, we are going to a side order of 'blam' for this one" Willow commented.

"Yes, and knowing your destructive tendencies I have little doubt that it will involve copious quantities of explosives" Giles replied, a little sarcastically.

Xander blinked, "ah, now that should work"

Giles stilled, glancing at Xander to see if he was serious, he was, "Oh, Good Lord!"

"Problem," Jenny replied, making Giles sigh a little with relief, "where are you going to get enough explosive?"

Willow ohhed, bouncing in her seat, "I found this recipe on the internet for a fertiliser bomb"

Giles groaned, his head banging off the desk, the thought of his children playing around with high explosives was frankly, scaring him to death.

Xander grinned, "I have some C-4 left over from the last time we raided the Sunnydale Armoury"

Giles rose swiftly from his seat, heading for the bottle of Scotch he kept hidden in his office.

"Detonators?" Jenny asked

"Of course" Xander grinned, "I think your boyfriend is planning on get drunk though"

"Eww," Buffy groaned, "thanks for the mental image"

"Question, where exactly do we place the explosives?" Oz asked.

"Has to be inside the School," Jenny replied, "I doubt we are going to drag him far away from his meal tickets after all"

"What?" Jenny asked, at the bemused and eager grins she was getting from the rest of the gang, then she thought back over what she had said, she hadn't really said to blow up the school had she? "Oh god, I need a drink"

Xander chuckled as Miss Calendar walked off, "so, whilst the adults get drunk, I think we had best start planning..."

* * *

It was a day like any other; the sun was out, the birds were singing, the Mayor was planning a demonic ascension

Okay, so it wasn't a day like any other to most people, but to the Sunnydale class of '95, it was pretty much just a normal day. But then, exactly how many school newspapers had a weekly obituary section? Normal doesn't live in this town.

"Oh good god, he's actually going to give a full speech _before _ he ascends" Buffy moaning, sinking down deep into her seat.

Oz frowned behind her, "if we had any doubts that he was evil before now, that would just have ended them"

"Hell yea" Xander commented, "why doesn't he just ascend already?"

"He's waiting", Willow commented, with the tones of one who has said this far too many times, "for the eclipse, which should be happening anytime in the next minute"

"Then we can kill him?" Buffy asked.

Willow rolled her eyes, "not till he has completely shifted form, I've told you this"

"Getting darker" Oz commented.

"That's the eclipse" Willow commented, ignoring the still speaking Mayor, "get ready"

"Vampires!"Buffy snapped out, shooting to her feet, looking straight at the main entrance seconds before the horde appeared through it.

Xander nodded, "let's go then"

The fight that followed was short sweet and to the point. With Xander tearing through the vampires, ably assisted by Willow, Cordelia, Jenny and Oz they died quickly, few managing to break through to the students and parents and those that did, quickly dieing at the hands of a horde of angry and prepared students, not the scared, unprepared students they were expecting.

Wilkins ascended, and his very first move was to eat Principal Snyder in one gulp, followed by the Chief of Police, before Buffy, now fully buffed up as the Martial Artist she was, cast the nano 'encourage hatred' on the Mayor, making him turn from the student body and chase after her. Buffy ran, deliberately slowly towards the library, making sure Wilkins didn't lose sight of her as his objective.

Wilkins followed her into the library and got into the library, spotted the explosives and had just enough time to say "Oh hell" before Faith jumped down, putting every inch of power she could muster behind the hammer she was wielding. The hammer _shattered, _and her arms aching, Faith dived out the library windows behind Buffy, leaving a stunned ex-Mayor shaking his head as he picked himself back up off the floor.

He didn't get any more time then that.

As soon as she spotted both girls were out, Giles, with great glee, pressed down on his detonator, sending a tiny electrical charge running through wires into tiny blocks of C-4 in the library. Those blocks of C-4 detonated, igniting the fertiliser explosive they were packed in.

The result, as they say, was a nice side order of 'blam'.

* * *

"Oh gross," Buffy commented, pulling some green stuff she would rather not think about out of her hair, "I think I have mayor meat on me"

"You have the Mayors meat on you?" Faith grinned at her sister slayer, "didn't know you were into that kind of kinky"

Buffy froze, shuddered, and carefully replied, "I am totally going to repress your last comment"

"Indeed," came the rather disturbed addition from Giles, "but I do believe we have a fight to go to?"

They nodded; Faith and Buffy tearing swiftly around the school to the main fight, followed a few seconds later by Giles pet', a robot assistant summoned by nanotechnology.

They didn't find a fight, they found a massacre.

"Okay," Buffy shrugged, jogging across to join her teammates, "we survived school"

Xander snorted, "We blew up school"

"Which was kinda cool" Oz added.

"So," Buffy asked, "what do we do next?"

"Victory party?" Giles replied, wheezing a little as he joined the group.

There were satisfied nods all around, "victory party"


	5. Chapter 5A

**Adventurer Xander  
by Chaoseternus**

**Thank you to everyone who has reviewed. **

**Five A**

Okay, I really should have thought of this, Xander admitted calmly to himself.

Get too powerful and well, you get a few monsters out to challenge you because you might actually be a challenge to them but most either leg it, or become vegetarian.

It helped keep the normals safe but damn, did it make it boring for them.

They hadn't killed anyone bar fledglings in months, and most vampires had stopped bothering to make those knowing they would be dead long before they rose. The butchers were doing a rousing trade of course; the price of blood had tripled as far away as Cleveland. Some vampires had even taken up night-shift work in order to pay for the stuff, which was scary…

Seeing a five-hundred year old master vampire, one who had to wear a hat at all times to cover the developing horns selling burgers at the double-meat palace, well, that was a picture he knew would stay with him for a very, very long time.

Of course, there had been the Initiative, which had been amusing for a while, watching the hapless soldiers try to capture demons who ran at the slightest sign of a fight, knowing that if they killed somebody, the Scoobies would know about very quick and that their existences would suddenly have a very short life… or half-life perhaps, after what Willow did to the last demon who actually managed to lay a hand on her.

Note to self, radiation poisoning works on Moh'ra demons too.

Note to self: very disturbing though.

Now of course, they had another military team sweeping through the area and this one was different. This one had a non-human with them, and Xander didn't think that the tall-dark one was demon. Indeed, he was beginning to wonder if he should have added something from the Alien Invasion expansion to his outfit that Halloween…

* * *

"Are you sure this is the place?" O'Neill shook his head, "if somebody was to say 'foothold', this type of town would be the _last _place I would think off" 

"Perhaps that is why they choose to land here" Teal'c noted, his expression placid as he surveyed his surroundings.

"Yes," Daniel smiled at the group, his eyes shining with a look that told them all to clearly that he had some titbit to share… one which, O'Neill mused, would most likely send him to sleep, "or he might have discovered the mythos associated with this town and decided to use it to his advantage"

His want going to ask, he wasn't going to ask… damn it, he was going to ask, "mythos?"

Daniels look screamed victory, and O'Neill groaned, he knew he was going to regret asking that question.

"Well, the Spanish settlers who originally built this town called it El Boco Del Inferno, the Mouth of Hell,"

"The Mouth of hell?" Teal'c asked.

"Yes, Legend has it that this town sits upon a gateway to hell itself"

"Another Stargate?" O'Neill asked, not bothering to hide his sudden alertness or interest.

"Doubtful," Daniel shook his head, "as far as I am aware, all of mainland America has actually been scanned for large naquadah sources now, items such as zats or hand devices might not have been detected but another gate, as I understand it, would have been"

"In theory yes," Carter noted, "but we couldn't scan this area. That's one of the reasons Hammond was so quick to deploy us here when the rumours started filtering through"

"Yes," O'Neill grouchily commented, "I got all that… what I don't understand is why these supposed 'shapeshifters' and 'magicians' would be interested in small town America. We've assumed the Goa'uld are responsible, but something about this doesn't exactly scream out 'snakes' to me"

"Your right," Carter nodded, "Goa'uld aren't protectors and the rumours all indicate that whoever these aliens are, they are protectors"

"So, potential allies then"

"Indeed," Teal'c intoned.

"See, now why couldn't somebody have just said that at the meeting instead of loads of big words that just send me to sleep"

Teal'c smiled, slightly, just enough that somebody who knew him really well woulkd be able to spot it, but no-one else, "there was a bet on"

"A bet? Really? What for and how do I get a slice?"

"It was to see how long you would last before you fell asleep O'Neill"

The Colonel stopped, suddenly, forcing Carter to carefully step around him, her face set as she tried not to laugh, "you had a bet to see how long I would stay awake?"

"Indeed," Teal'c grinned, "I won"

Grouchily, the Colonel glanced around his teammates, all of whom were trying to hide smiles, with a roll of his eyes, he gave up.

"Mutinous dogs" he commented, affectionately.

* * *

Of course, the Initiative hadn't been all fun and games. 

He didn't know how or when and frankly, he didn't much care, but Walsh had managed to get her hands on one of his oldest NCUs and a few nano-programs and had equipped her bastard creation with them.

That had raised Adam from interesting challenge to attention worthy, something which hadn't happened in ages.

Course, it didn't make him unkillable but when you combine the best aspects of human, demon, machine and then add nano-tech, you end up with a high level monster.

One who had been red even to him, red meaning danger, this 'thing' is far too powerful for you to take on by yourself. Of course, he hadn't been on his own, that was after all the whole point of a team and together they had killed Adam, whilst their new recruit, the spy Reilly who had served them so faithfully since the crisis began, helped his former comrades to safety.

Of course, it meant they had corn-fed as part of the team now, but in the final battle he had certainly earned that right. He had turned out to be quite a capable Soldier, if a little unimaginative.

Xander had to admit, an engineer would be a very helpful addition to their team, they were certainly getting to the point where they needed one but so far, no-one had taken that role.

Strange though, he had a feeling one would drop into his lap soon.

An agent would be nice too, but frankly, Xander wasn't sure he would be able to trust anyone who showed as an agent on his NCU with his nano-technology. That was the whole point of agents, they weren't to be trusted.

Whilst he was making a wish-list, maybe he should mention a fixer too. Or perhaps the grid?

If wishes were horses, then the world would be overrun with equines Xander reminded himself.

Best remember to deal with the here and now, and plan for the future. Wishes didn't help… Xander chuckled, definitely not when you had such 'unique' individuals as Anya still hanging around.

* * *

"O'Neill," Teal'c commented quietly, "do you recognise that type of bird?" 

"You mean the one that has been following us since we hit LA?" O'Neill commented with heavy irony, not even looking around, "the one that looks very out-of-place with its very tropical colourings? No, haven't noticed a thing…"

"Wait," Daniel frowned, "we've been followed since LA by a bird and you're worried?"

"Shapeshifter," Carter commented casually, trying to look behind her out of the corner of her eye, cursing herself for not noticing the bird herself, "do you think we have a breech sir?"

"I'm not sure," O'Neill commented frankly, "I had a look as we exited the airport because it was such an unusual bird, but…."

The Colonel frowned, "if I thought this was just a bird, this would sound really weird… but it looked at us but didn't seem to take any particular attention until we passed close by, at which point it almost dropped of its perch, it was… shocked. I think… I think it may have sensed Junior. We passed underneath at the same range you two normally detect Goa'ulds at"

"I did not detect a symbiote," Teal'c said.

"I know," O'Neill replied, "you didn't react when we passed underneath it"

"So," Daniel asked, somewhat nervously, "what do we do?"

"If it reacted to the Goa'uld…" Carter said slowly, "but isn't a host, then whoever, whatever it is might have been a host at some point"

"You think they may be an enemy of the Goa'uld?" Teal'c asked.

"I don't know," O'Neill replied, "but I know we need to find out"

* * *

Goa'uld? 

Symbiotes?

I think I had best pass those on to Giles, he will know what books to research to find out about those, because they certainly do not sound familiar to me, though that _thing _inside this 'Teal'c' is certainly not human.

I really think it might be alien.

Which is, to put it mildly, a mind-blowing thought, actual aliens on Earth and apparently working with the military?

This is bad, there are very few military personnel I would trust with aliens, not after the Initiative incident, and when they talk about aliens as if they were evil… well, they might be, but I am afraid that I do not trust the military mind, I do not trust them to make an enemy out of a potential ally.

I need to report back, get the research flowing on this, but I don't want to lose this group either, I want them followed, I want them observed. Best I can do is hope I meet one of the others, or perhaps have them stop somewhere where I can de-activate this polymorph and get at my mobile phone. Trying to use one of those when you're shaped like a bird is damned difficult, trust me on this. You need to be back in human form if you wish to be understandable.

Do I leave them and report or do I continue to follow?

They have spotted me now, but still, I don't like the thought of loose canons in _my _town.

No, I follow.

* * *

"Xander wasn't at his post," Oz said swiftly, "and the flag was down. He left deliberately, following someone" 

"Understood," Giles commented, "I'll inform the team. He hasn't reported back to us yet so hopefully he is still following whomever of whatever it was that grabbed his attention. Make your way back here and be prepared for an aerial reconnaissance of the town"

"On my way," Oz replied, swiftly slipping the mobile into his pocket. Glancing around swiftly once, his perception set to max, he checked for any watchers. Satisfied that there were none, he activated a polymorph, allowing the nanites to swiftly change his shape into that of a reet, a small bird native of Rubi'ka. That done, he began the long flight back to Sunnydale.

Unbeknownst to him, he had been observed.

* * *

"Giles," 

"Xander," Giles replied, relief echoing through his voice as he held the phone, "Oz reported that you were not at your post"

"I had hoped he would have by now," Xander commented, his voice coming very quiet through the phone, "the military are back in town"

"Damn and blast them," Giles cursed, slamming a hand down on his desk, hoping no one came up from his shop below to investigate the noise, though Tara was too shy too investigate normally, something he was working on correcting, "I thought they had learnt there lesson after the initiative"

"I don't think it's the same group," Xander said, "these ones… well, I think they may have brought an alien with them"

Giles blinked; an alien?

"Are you quite serious?"

"Caught me off guard too," he replied, a wry note in his voice, "got some words for your to research. Stargate, from the context we are talking a gateway of some sort, perhaps a device and it's made of something called naq-wee-da. Whatever the hell that is, it's apparently detectable by satellite"

Scrambling frantically for a working pen and some paper, giles replied, "naq-wee-dah, stargate… anything else?"

"Yes, go-ah-old, don't ask me how to spell it, but its alternately been referred to as both a symbiote and a parasite… I thought those two were mutually exclusive"

"Well," Giles frowned, "normally they are, but if they are referring to a sentient being, well, if they can force themselves onto a host, then they can also, in theory choose not to do so"

"Gotcha," Xander replied, "one last thing, I've been spotted and I get the distinct impression we are the reason they are in town in the first place"

"Then," Giles frowned, glancing at the words he had hastily scribbled down, wondering, not for the first time, if he was going to be able to discover anything about them, "we are going to have to be far more careful about how we operate in the future, are we not?"

"Perhaps," Xander commented, "either way, can you send Oz to the Richmond Motel? I think I had best report properly, in person"

"Of course Xander," Giles smiled, despite the fact that Xander couldn't see it, "he's already on his way back from LAX now"

Giles sighed as Xander hung up, now all he had to do was contact everyone, inform them that they needed a good-old fashioned research party going and boy, did he miss those, having all the gang her together, and somehow keep Tara from figuring out what was going on.

She might be terminally shy but she was a bright girl, he knew she already thought something not quite kosher was going on. Of course, having an assistant mind the Magic Box who knew what was going on might be a good thing but he didn't think she was ready for that. She definitely didn't have the confidence despite his best efforts.

Still, had had to wonder… he knew she practised magic with Willow and frankly, he hadn't missed the glances she sent Willow when the redhead wasn't looking. He knew one of them might be in for a surprise… funny thing was, he was no-longer sure which of the two it was and wouldn't Oz just _love _that little twist?

Damn it, he had more important things to deal with then his children's love-lifes.


	6. Chapter 5B

**Adventurer Xander  
by Chaoseternus**

**Five B**

"You're going to love this," Daniel said, looking up from his laptop, "Hammond grabbed a sat that was passing overhead to get us some up to date recon of the area… it picked up this near to LAX"

The archaeologist his play, then watched his friends faces as they followed the short, grainy clip. If he had bet money that their jaws would drop, he would have won, would have been a sucker bet though he thought.

"Chel Nok!" Teal'c said, his tone awed.

"Did that kid just turn into a bird?" O'Neill asked, his voice sceptical.

"Well, we did expect shapeshifters," Carter commented, shaking her head disbelievingly as her eyes followed the shapes on the screen.

"Yes, but there is a subtle difference between being told shapeshifters and you know, actually seeing one" O'Neill answered.

"Indeed," Teal'c replied, "they must come from a highly advanced society"

"Unless it's an inherent ability of their race," Carter suggested, frowning, "that should not have been possible, the bird form appeared to be far smaller then the original, near human shape it came from. Mass has to be conserved and yet, it didn't appear to be"

"Answers one question though…" Daniel paused, "well, two actually"

At the questioning glances from his teammates, he continued, "one, whether there are actually shapeshifters in the area and two, are there more then one"

"Daniel Jackson is right," Teal'c nodded, "according to the timescale, that shift we just witnessed happened whilst the bird was following us"

"Great," O'Neill replied, "still doesn't answer the biggest question, are they friendly?"

"We would need to observe them more," Teal'c frowned, "however there shapeshifting abilities would give them a considerable advantage at concealment"

"Maybe not," Daniel noted, glancing out the window, "the bird that was following us has ducked out of sight for a few minutes once an hour… now he could be reporting to base, but it could also indicate a time limit on the shapeshift. Also, why has he only used one bird form? They must know we are aware of that one by now"

"You think they only have a limited number of forms?" Carter shrugged, "its possible"

"Ah Danny, I so proud," O'Neill commented carefully wiping a tear from his eye, "analysing a situation like a soldier… I've taught you so well"

Rolling his eyes, Daniel just said, "shut up Jack" and ignored the snickering coming from Carter.

* * *

"O-Okay," she stammered, smiling slightly as the older man walked up the steps, leaving her alone in the store. 

She might need this job to help pay her college fees, but that hadn't been why she had applied, why this had been the job she had hoped for. She had seen the people that were in here all the time, more importantly, she had seen their auras and they weren't pure, though they were close. No, that hadn't attracted her, what had was the solid core of strength in them, the odd augmentation aside.

Not only were they strong, not only had they very white auras, but there was something else, a little mark, hiding away in the back of their aura, one she had only seen once before, when the vampire Angel had saved her life in LA as she made her way to this town, to her college.

The mark of a champion.

More, several of them didn't have the mark that her research indicated said they were chosen as champions, no they had a far purer mark, one that said they had _chosen _to become champions. They still had their free will and they fought anyway.

It was beautiful to see, it brought her hope that there were some truly good people in the world. Pity her 'family' weren't like that.

Still, she might not be able to fight, but for people like those, she would do what she could. Besides, Dawn would be here in a year or two and she needed to be ready for that.

* * *

"You know," Buffy said, shaking her head bemused, "I've heard many strange things since I became slayer, but Alien takes the biscuit" 

"I hear you," Faith nodded, "anyone else in would be asking what they were smoking, but boytoy? He's the most perceptive of us by far, if he says alien…"

"Nice to know I'm appreciated," Xander said, bemused, walking into the large library, "but… boytoy?"

"Well, a girl" Faith grinned, and then sent Xander a look that screamed pure sex, "can dream can't she?"

"Epp!" Xander squealed, as Buffy's face began to burn red, even though the look wasn't directed at her.

"Oh look," Faith grinned, "I broke him"

"Faith!" Buffy shouted, still blushing, "that wasn't nice"

Laughing, Faith walked over and began nibbling at Xanders ears, her voice purring suggestively, "who ever said I was nice?"

With a strangled gulp, Xander fled the room.

Buffy's mouth twitched, the blonde slayers eyes screaming her amusement. Faith licked her lips suggestively, and it was too much. The blonde slayer broke out laughing, holding her side desperately.

* * *

Oz smiled slightly as he listened though the window, they hadn't yet figured out that he was using a different form to Xander, good. 

It meant they were far less guarded about what they said, had been ever since Xander had left, still in reet form. He didn't think they had even spotted him, which was a big advantage of this Leet form. Sure, you wouldn't want to try fighting, but you just looked like some small rodent. That and the concealment buff the form offered meant it was easy to just not be spotted.

Of course, it lacked the coolness factor of flying but hey, you couldn't have everything could you?

Still, they were dropping names and information quite casually. They weren't dropping anything that could be considered classified perhaps, but now he knew there boss was a General Hammond and they were based in Colorado Springs.

Very useful information, which he would have to pass to Willow next time he had to reset his polymorph, it would make it far easier for her to figure out which government computers she had to crack to find out more about these military officers and what exactly it was they did for a living.

They thought of themselves as the good guys, but that wasn't new, Walsh had as well, right up till her bastard creation had killed her, and she certainly hadn't been a good gal. Well, not from their point of view anyway.

NID… he had heard of them before, they had been associated with the initiative disaster. Minus points for mentioning them, but bonus points for the name-calling and very derogatory tones.

And even more bonus points for mentioning names of NID agents… names they could check up on, Maybourne, Simmonds, and Kinsey… Kinsey, that named sounded familiar. Wasn't there a senator with that name?

Well, it wouldn't be the first time that a politician turned out to be the scum of the universe, witness the former and very deceased Mayor.

Still, he would need to pass this on next time he reloaded his polymorph.

* * *

"We are still being watched," Teal'c carefully signed, glad that he had learned the various sign-languages the Tau'ri used. The military signs were extremely useful in battle, doubly so when you had to remain quiet and the Jaffa had nothing equivalent, but this deaf-dumb sign language also had its uses for when you wanted to carry out a conversation without being heard. 

Of course, it wasn't meant for that, but that wasn't the point.

O'Neill eyes said, I know.

Carters said, I haven't spotted them yet.

Daniels said, since when did you know sign language?

Carefully, the Jaffa signed, they are not in bird form.

The result was grim slight nods from the rest of the group as they switched their vocal conversation to the mundane.

"Seen anything odd?" O'Neill carefully, somewhat clumsily signalled.

No, none of them had, yet they all had the feeling of being observed.

"Well, I think its time for bed, we'll recon in the morning" O'Neill said aloud, rising swiftly from his seat, the team nodded, understanding his other message, we cant do anything useful whilst we are being observed, best get some rest.

Silently agreeing, everyone slipped off to bed.


	7. Chapter 5C

**Adventurer Xander  
by Chaoseternus**

**Five C**

"It is perhaps a good thing then that the demon population fears us," Riley commented, "if we 'suggest' they lay low for a few days…"

"It's an idea," Giles commented, "we know at least parts of the military and US Government are aware of the existence of demons and magics but it is highly unlikely that the majority do. A group that works with aliens would have to be somewhat open-minded of course, but if they are truly distrustful of the NID then its entirely unlikey that they are aware of the NIDs actions in this area and perhaps of the existence of the monsters"

"In simple terms," Xander drawled, "we guess that they don't know but if anyone was to be able to spot the weirdness, a team that includes an alien is going to be the one to do it"

"Yes, quite"

"See," Buffy smiled mischievously at her watcher, "now _that _explanation I understood"

Giles responded with a look of tolerant annoyance, and refused to comment.

"Still," Xander noted, "that keeps most of the demons out of their way, but we know there are a few out there who are likely to show themselves 'accidently' to this 'SG-1' just because we told them not too"

"That is a very human reaction to a Law Enforcement Agency," Giles pointed out, "and official or not, that is how a lot of the underworld is beginning to perceive us"

"Freakishness of the demonic community aside," Buffy noted with a bemused smile, "we still need to figure out what to do about SG-1 themselves"

"Best option is of course to give them no reason to stay," Riley pointed out, his former role giving him a greater understanding of the military mind then most, "one way or another; they will be under a time-limit. In order to stay beyond that limit they have to have some form of proof, we give them none…"

"I don't like it," Faith commented, frustrated, "that means not doing _anything _that might get their attention. All it takes is one wanna-be-a-big-bad to come along and we risk tipping our hand"

"The demons will certainly know something is up, having been told to stay under cover" Willow added.

"Basically, we need to get rid of this team without giving then any evidence or weakening our position," Xander shook his head, "there's no simple, answer to this, though I know what an agent would suggest"

"I know," Giles frowned, "and if it were to be suggested, I would say no, it would only bring more attention to this town from the authorities"

"A short term option is to charm them," Xander noted, "but that would only work on one at a time and for very short periods… and the effects on the alien would at best be unpredictable"

"Indeed," Giles frowned, "and as the only one with such a nano, I must say I find the thought of using it on a normal human somewhat repugnant. Demons yes, darksiders okay, but we have no proof that this SG-1 is on that side of the line, therefore no"

"Your option," Xander smiled, "and one I have to agree with. If we start charming anyone who is a possible threat, then we end up no better then the demons we fight"

"We have a problem,"

"Oz, nice to see you too, how was your day, was your surveillance time fruitful?" Xander sardonically commented, glancing across as his fellow Adventurer, who was still surrounded by a halo of glowing nano-particles from the polymorph he had just de-activated.

"They have their proof," Oz replied.

"Oh," Xander noted.

"Bugger,"

* * *

"The technology… I mean, this is simply impossible. It is a fundamental rule of physics that mass and energy must be conserved. We have found a few technologies that force a change between the two states, the gate itself is an example of one, but," Carter shook her head, awed, "if I am judging the satellite imagery correctly, then that bird was merely the size of the shifters head. If EMC2 is to hold true in this case, then the difference in mass should have been converted to energy. That much energy, unless he had some containment for it we are not aware of, would have caused one _hell _of a discharge" 

"How big a… discharge are we talking about?" O'Neill asked slowly, his head turning as he swiftly glanced around the park, checking for any observers, or anything out of the ordinary.

Carter shot him a look; one that O'Neill had little difficulty reading having seen it far too many times in the past for his comfort. The look said 'you don't want to know, these numbers scare me sir'

He decided not to ask.

"We need more people here," Daniel pointed out, making O'Neill and Carter glance at him, surprised.

"We've been spotted," he noted, "or at least that's the way it looks. So, we use that; make sure we are seen to investigate. Have Hammond send in a second team to assist but _don't _have them make contact with us"

O'Neill blinked, then smiled proudly at his friend, "make sure we are known and visible, drag attention away from the real investigation. Daniel, good idea"

"Indeed," Teal'c quietly added, "if all goes well, that should be most effective"

"We still need to get Hammond in on this," Carter noted, "preferably without our 'friends' catching on"

"There ability to change forms makes that a most tricky proposition," the tall dark warrior noted, "with the appropriate cover and form, they could be merely feet from us and we would not notice"

"Then," O'Neill noted, "we take all due precautions but the risk will still be there. All we can hope is we don't put the unknowns on their guard and looking for another team"


	8. Chapter 5D

**Adventurer Xander  
by Chaoseternus**

**Five D**

"This is a problem," Xander noted once more, "they have proof… hell, the United States Military now officially has proof that shapeshifters exist and I'm not sure we are going to be able to suppress it this time"

"Got another hit," Willow shuddered, "it just went international. Mention of shapeshifters on a Russian mainframe, linked to a reference to Sunnydale and to a… well, translator program says 'Project Guardian Sword'"

"Think the Russians have their own Initiative?" Giles asked, frowning.

"Possibly… but it's going on the 'to investigate' list, threes too many cross-references showing up for just the two of us to check" Jenny noted.

"Wait," Willow barked out excited, "Stargate Command, definite link to a 'Deep Space Radar Telemetry' project under Cheyenne Mountain"

Riley raised an eyebrow, somewhat amused, "Deep Space Radar Telemetry _under _NORAD? Can anyone say 'cover-up'?"

"And not a particularly good one at that," Giles noted.

"Okay, Jenny?" Willow continued, breathlessly, "I'm going for Stargate Command itself, can you check the personnel names I am passing across please? Colonel Jonathan O'Neill, Major Samantha Carter, Teal'c, T-E-A-L-apostrophe-C, and Doctor Daniel Jackson"

Giles raised a startled eyebrow, "Doctor Jackson? Check under archaeology. He had a rather brief period of notoriety a few years ago after he gave a presentation in which he stated the pyramids were older then conventional ideas would suggest and that they were constructed by aliens. Had a pretty solid argument for the first but got laughed out because of the second"

"Judging by Teal'c," Xander noted, gazing carefully over Willows shoulder at the computer screen, "I would say he had his proof"

"Oh good lord," Giles said, his eyes wide, shocked, "I've been an idiot"

The group watched amused as the former watcher dived across the computer room, darting into the spacious if far too modern for Giles liking Library that had been installed in the mansion both Giles and Xander now called home.

He emerged mere seconds later, carefully unravelling a tattered looking scroll.

"The council has known for years that the Egyptian Gods were 'real', for a given value of real. In fact, there are several distinct reference to them being Golden Demons, a rather strange name for a demon species, indicative perhaps of a human name for the species rather then the demonic one"

"Or…" Jenny frowned, "a bastardisation of the demons name for themselves… Goa'uld perhaps"

"Exactly,"

"Meaning that the ancient Egyptian gods were demons or gods, but aliens?" Willow asked, carefully not turning her back on her computer and the flashing connection monitors, at least one of which was indicating a hi-jacked tracer.

"Well, yes" Giles stammered, more then a little excited, "they were actually thrown off this Earth by a rebellion, led not just by the active slayer of the time by two other champions as well. Alas, the Slayer died in the last acts of the rebellion but the texts clearly indicated that these Golden demons, perhaps Goa'uld left through a gateway"

"The Stargate," Xander replied, flatly.

"Indeed," Giles replied.

* * *

"This is a problem," Major Davis was frowning, heavily. 

_"Which means we not only have to worry about the demonic inhabitants of this bloody town, but possible alien invasion or retaliation attacks as well?" _

"Hell yes sir, but damn, would Daniel love to get a hold of their library, if they really have Egyptian texts with references to the Goa'uld…" the Marine Seargeant trailed off, in truth, he didn't need to finish that statement, everyone knew how valuable more knowledge of the Goa'uld could be, even if it was only tracing their past.

"A point," Davis acknowledged.

_"It certainly appears that way," _An older, distinguished voice was coming from the speakers know.

_"Xander! You said bloody" _

_"No bloody way did I Buffy" _this was followed by muffled snorts, and a heartfelt, _"Oh hell, corrupted by the Gilester" _

_"Thank you for that Xander," _

"What do we know of this 'Giles'?" Davis asked swiftly.

"British accent, related to an organisation called the Watchers, we've got the CIA running his background down but it's taking a surprisingly long time. Last report indicated they were having co-operation issues with the British Government and had run into a few blocks this side of the pond too"

_"How long till Oz reports in?" _

Davis sighed, not that he had ever really expected this to be easy, buty it would have made a nice change…

"Well," he commented, "we seem to know one new thing at least. They're human, they are also completely nuts"

_"Twenty minutes now… every hour on the hour" _

"You regularly meet with alien's sir, and you are willing to dismiss demons out of hand?"

"Again, a point," Davis frowned, "we've known aliens to be misidentified as demons before, could this be more examples of that? They have already admitted to mislabelling the Goa'uld…"

_"Good, then I suggest that, for the moment, we leave the Lady's to it" _

"I wouldn't want to guess sir," the Marine shook his head, "a few years ago I would have laughed off the very concept of demons, but since the SGC… well, there are more things in heaven and earth then are dreamed of in your philosophy"

"A miss-quote perhaps," Davis shook his head and reached for his mobile, "but once again, your point is taken. I'd better report this"

"Something else, they've mentioned an Initiative and, well, the way they said it suggests a military black ops pooch-screw"

Davis brightened up considerably at this, "if there has been a military operation in the area, then I should be able to trace it"

"Indeed sir,"


	9. Chapter 5E

**Adventurer Xander  
by Chaoseternus**

**Five E**

"They are making a show of investigating," was the first words out of Oz's mouth as he walked, more then a little tiredly, into the house.

"I'm inclined to agree," Giles commented, "now, I have not been on watch as often as you adventurers, but they aren't splitting up, ever, indeed, they are making a conscious effort to stay together and to be seen to investigate"

"And they know that we know that they're here to investigate us, so do you think that they called in a second team for a more covert investigation?"

Oz and Giles blinked, then spent a few seconds carefully trying to decode Willows sentence.

"Well," Giles stuttered, "perhaps, but if that were so, I would expect…"

Oz raised an eyebrow as Giles trailed of and began glancing suspiciously about the room, "I think we need to check for more bugs"

* * *

_"Shit!" _Davis was officially not happy. 

Surveillance was so much easier if the people you were trying to watch didn't know that there was an active investigation going on, or if they were stupid. This group unfortunately, was proving to be neither. In fact, they were proving to be quite smart, the information they had let slip merely whilst _reading up _on the Goa'uld had already filled in several blanks for the anthropology department of the SGC… a department that had bypassed screaming and without Daniel handy to keep them under control, had gone straight to threatening behaviour in an attempt to have the Air Force… procure access to Giles library, one way or another.

The fact that Giles had access to such books in the first place…

Well, Davis noted ruefully to himself, it wasn't the first time he was writing up reports for the White House… but it was certainly the first time he got his own line to the President.

To put it mildly, there was high level interest in this investigation now. That at least was a help in that the NID had to be at least wary of the potential for a shitstorm should they step out of place somehow…

Maybe that was why they hadn't shown their faces?

Davis stiffened, then growled annoyed.

Of course…. A military operation he couldn't find any files on? The NID appearing to keep their distance from what would normally be a priority to them? The languague used by Buffy mainly, but her friends as well suggested that the Initiative hadn't just gone sore, it had gone totally FUBAR and Riley… well, Mr Finns entire attitude just screamed Soldier, and proud of it.

No, that particular mess was now smelling a particularly unfragrant scent of NID.

Perfect, his bad day was now officially complete.

"Well well well, what do we have here?" a voice sounded from outside the surveillance van, "looks like cops, but they know better… and they aint so stiff"

"I know what it looks like to me,"

"Lunch!" came the chorused response to that and Davis groaned, reaching for his pistol. For fucks sake, he thought to himself, he hadn't even said it, yet still he managed to bring Murphy down on himself.

The Universe, he noted, really sucks, as someone began hammering at the rear door of the van.

* * *

"Hey, is that a surveillance van?" 

Riley nodded sharply, his eyes steady through the binoculars he was holding to his face, "looks like it, about to have visitors too. I count three…"

The Soldier tapped once at a button on the top of the goggles, "no heat signatures"

"That means Vamps," Faith groaned, "and ten to one says the surveillance van is there to watch _us _"

Riley snorted, "Sunnydale PD don't have a surveillance unit and they still aren't willing to call for outside assistance… got to be military"

"Great…" Faith spat out, "we ever let them die and keep our secret or blow it all…"

"Shall we evac M'am?" Riley asked, his binoculars discarded in favour of his rifle.

Faith shot him a disgusted look, "do you want to have to deal with turned field personnel again?"

Riley blanched, and pulled the safety of his rifle, swiftly following Faith as she jogged towards the besieged van.

Faith frowned for a moment, not pausing in her stride she asked, "You know… how exactly do we know that this is a surveillance van?"

Riley snorted, half-smiling, "how's about the highly noticeable 'government vehicle, don't notice me' aura about that van?"

Faith grinned, "Right, that would be it"

* * *

She's here, shes here. 

The mantra ran constantly through Tara's mind as she struggled to concentrate enough to manage the shop… well, okay, do make work around the shop. For some reason, today was dead… not literally though, she noted to herself, remembering the towns night-life, still, she was here.

And she had seen her, the powerful green winding itself around her aura, mixed in with the fading shards of the magics which had brought her to Sunnydale, made her of the Slayer… and a tiny, brilliant shard of purest white that labelled a soul requested, and granted. Tara had never seen such before, but in her heart she knew what that mark was.

The door opened, and she glanced around, smiling, hoping to maybe make her first sale of the day… or something. Anything to break the monotony.

Wasn't a customer though, "Hi Willow, I'm afraid Giles isn't here at the moment"

She nodded, "he's at the house, came to grab a few supplies"

"Oh… okay, just remember to sign off for them if they are for one of Giles projects okay?" Giles projects, Tara noted, was pretty obviously a cover for anything required in their duties, but it wasn't time to comment, not yet.

"Personal this time,"

"O-Okay, give me a shout when you're done and I'll ring them through"

Sighing, Tara forced herself to turn away and stop watching the redheads rear, she wasn't interested in her that way after all. She didn't think Willow was interested in Girls at all, which was a pity.

Somewhat sadly, she began walking up to the upper level, but she stumbled, holding her head for a moment, and then whimpered, dropping the book in her hand to the ground without noticing.

"Tara," Willows concerned voice sounded behind her, "are you okay?"

Stifling a mental groan, she turned, trying to hide her pain as she reached down to pick her discarded book back up, "I'm fine… j-just stubbed my toe that's all"

Tara glanced back up to see Willow looking at her very doubtfully.

"Really I'm…" Tara trailed off, and then groaned, dropping to the ground, her head held in her hands as the vision ripped once more through her mind.


	10. Chapter 5f

**Adventurer Xander  
by Chaoseternus**

**Five F**

"Good Lord," Giles breathed, slightly awed, "a Seer"

"Perhaps," Willow shook her head as she dropped three of the headache pills, watching but not truly seeing as they dissolved into the water, "but when that vision hit, it _hurt _. Tara dropped right to the ground. I don't remember reading anything about that on the many occasions we have had to research a prophecy"

"No, you wouldn't" he replied, unhappy, "most of the Seers on record fall into two categories. Those who were born with the ability, they tend to be the ones who write the books of prophecy, and those who are not fully human. It's believed a demon aspect, even if its heavily watered down provides some protection against having a vision forced into your head"

"Indeed, they…." Giles paused, his eyes widening, "oh… bloody hell"

"Giles, when you say bloody hell, experience tells me I need to be somewhat worried" Willow noted.

"Well, in this instance you would be quite right" Giles stammered slightly, "I'm afraid that Tara is most likely being given visions and if I remember correctly, most humans don't survive them"

Willow glanced up sharply, "that's not acceptable"

"Indeed, Tara is a nice girl, there's certainly no meanness in her," Giles shrugged, "I'll just have to research. Unfortunately, we need to find out what her vision was about, I'm afraid it's almost certain to be important and time sensitive"

Willow shrugged, picking up the glass and the now well and truly dissolved headache tablets, "then we had best talk to her straight away, find out what the vision was about, deal with it, then figure out how much she can be trusted"

Giles nodded, "your thinking Xander?"

"We gave him our original nano-controllers back when we upgraded, he still has them, well, all bar the one we destroyed with Adam," Willow nodded happily, "a new recruit is always a good thing. Hey, what profession do you think she would be?"

* * *

When carrying out surveillance, there are always a few things you have nightmares about having to put into a report. Being spotted was a relatively mild one, that happened and it got you a right royal chewing out… or perhaps a funeral if your suspect was annoyed or gung-ho enough, but there were worse. 

Like being attacked by unknowns whilst on surveillance, like having attention drawn to you in a big way, Like, being attacked by apparent aliens, aliens who looked like they were the basis for the vampire mythology… though, at least being with Stargate Command, the brass tended to take mentions of mythology at face value rather then laugh it off. Anyone who had clearance for those reports would certainly know better then to just laugh them off after all.

But this was bad, this… this he had never even had a nightmare about.

Being attacked by unknown aliens who were apparently the source of the vampire myth and being rescued by the very people he was supposed to be running surveillance on. Worse, they arrived so promptly that Davis could only come to one off two conclusions, either they had been following the 'vampires', or they had had his surveillance van under surveillance…

Davis knew that his career might not survive writing that in a report, despite how invaluable he might be to the project. Of course, first he had to survive long enough for that to become an issue, and even with the firm pressure of the compress against his neck, he could still feel the warmth of his own blood on his skin dropping steadily lower.

* * *

"He's in a real bad way," Riley commented, glancing up sharply at Faith, "unless we get a Doctor here quick, I don't thinks he's going to make it" 

Faith nodded, "I've put an alert out on the Org Chat, but Cordy hasn't responded. Buffy and Oz are on their way but they're not as good as Cordy and they're out of position. Willow is closest but she is already with a patient and Xander is dealing with a nest"

"Damn it," Riley cursed, "can't you do something?"

Faith shook her head, "If he had an NCU, there would be a few nanos I could use which would help but he doesn't and we've got no spares with us. We've just got to wait until reinforcements arrive

"Shit," Riley swore, his eyes glancing assessingly once around the surroundings before turning back to the blood streaked form of the officer in front of them, "I don't think he had long"

"Yea," Faith shrugged, carefully assuming an uncaring, this doesn't hurt me air, "pity about the others. Pretty cute… for soldier boys"

"Thanks," Riley commented dryly.

* * *

"So," Daniel asked quietly, "how do you think Davis is getting on?" 

"Well I hope," Jack commented, his voice conveying his worry. He didn't know what exactly was wrong, but he was getting that prickly feeling down his back, the one he had learned to trust years ago, the one that told him something had just gone fubar.

"You are worried O'Neill" Teal'c commented calmly.

"Yeah," O'Neill swore, swinging away from the window of their small, almost decrepit motel room, "I hate Intel jobs…. We know they know that we know but we must both pretend we don't… this horseshit gets on my nerves"

"Tell me again," Daniel commented, "why we don't just have some major back-up moved to the outskirts of town, just in case, then go and ask these unknowns just what they think they're doing on Earth?"

"I'm not entirely sure…" Carter commented, somewhat puzzled and intrigued, "if it wasn't for the shape-shifting I would have said they were 100 normal humans, quite possibly earth normal humans at that"

"The background checks do seem to support that hypothesis" Teal'c noted, "perhaps they obtained these abilities through some ancient technology?"

"Reason enough to investigate more circumspectly right there," Jack sighed, "I would hate to think what the NID would do with technology that grants the user the ability to shift forms"

Daniel frowned, "Perhaps not, I mean, each of the individuals in the group has a naquadah type energy signature originating from inside their bodies, but each signature is somewhat unique. This 'Alexander' and 'Daniel' have the most similar signatures and they are the only two we now have video recording of shifting form"

"Point," Carter shrugged, "the energy signature isn't quite like Naquadah, it has more in common with naquadria in fact but almost as if it has been stabilised somehow"

O'Neill frowned, glancing out the window, looking carefully for something in particular. He didn't see it.

"The drops late" His eyebrows rose, startled, "and we have a primary heading in our direction"

Carter glanced out the window disturbed, followed by Daniel as a knock came at the door.

"I do believe the appropriate expression is 'shit', is it not?"

"Yeah Teal'c," Jack grimaced as he reached across to open the door, his other hand resting on the handle of a pistol hidden in the back of his trousers, "shit covers it"


	11. Chapter 5G

**Adventurer Xander  
by Chaoseternus**

**Five G**

"Where's Buffy?" She asked; her voice high and perky.

"Probably out saving the world again," Joyce Summers replied, trying hard to hide the worry in her voice, instead she turned her face down; gazing at the dishes she was washing with quiet, motherly fearful attentiveness.

"Yeah," Dawn replied sullenly, "'cause it's not as if she would do any real work"

Joyce just rolled here eyes as the swift shift of mood on her daughters part, she was far to used to that to do anything else.

"She doesn't have a lot of choice," Joyce noted, not bothering to hide her worry, fear and despair this time, "but she could phone more often, let us know shes still okay"

"Yes," Dawn replied, frowning as she placed the newly dried plate in its place on the rack, "she could"

"You just want her to bring Xander around" Joyce teased.

Dawn blushed, "mum!"

* * *

Worried and dismayed, O'Neill led the charge into Giles house with a will, angry at hearing of the attack on his people, but knowing that he most likely hadn't been lied to, these unknowns had done their best to save those they could. They probably hadn't used methods approved by the Federal Drugs Administration either, which explained why they were here instead of at the local hospital. 

Still… he was second in command of the SGC. That meant everyone who worked there was his people, just as he was Hammonds, and that meant any attack on them was an attack on himself. Doubly so for someone like Davis, whom he respected and trusted.

Still, O'Neill already knew that this report was going to be a real dozy.

* * *

"What did you see Tara?" Giles asked calmly, gently, and above all else, quietly, knowing that in all likelihood, Tara would not appreciate loud noises right now. 

"Pain…" Tara grimaced, carefully, slowly sitting upwards on the couch, her eyes pained, her arm shielding her eyes from the light, "evil, and the end of days"

"Ah," Willow nodded sagely, "Apocalypse season has come late this year"

Tara blinked, then shuddered slightly, "that… was actually quite disturbing"

"Quite," Giles's face was grave, concerned, but the corners of his eyes lit up with a smirk, evidently humorously agreeing.

"Darkness," she shuddered again, delicately, wrapping her arms protectively around her body as she shivered, "it comes, formless but its servants are many. Those who come seeking truth, they know its name, its threat but they don't know its plans"

"Those who come seeking truth?" Giles frowned, puzzled, and then started, "of course, SG-1. I see, well, anything else?"

Tara nodded, "we are supposed to face this _together, _and that Dawn is involved somehow"

"Dawn?" Giles was puzzled, and wasn't bothering to hide it, "what do you mean by that?"

"Buffy's sister, she's important somehow. I don't know how, but the visions that sent me here, the ones that told me to take this job, they all go back to her, how she is here now but wasn't here always. How she came into being fully formed…"

"Oh, good lord" Giles was fascinated, but dismayed, and his hands were worrying at his glasses with far more then the usual vehemence.

"There's also this Duck,"

Giles blinked, as did Willow, who finally turned her full attention back to the shy blonde, her eyes rising startled above the line of her laptop screen.

"This Duck," Giles repeated, his tone in its quiet understated way managing to convey quite clearly the expression 'what the fuck?'

"Yes, and its constantly quacking," Tara shook her head, then groaned, grimacing g as the movement sent a shard of pain through her head, "quite surreal"

"Yes quite," Giles stuttered, "well, Buffy always has that cheese man, I suppose some sort of avatar may just be a secondary indicator that the visions are not reality perhaps…"

An enlightened expression dawned across Willows face, "or it could be telling us what profession Tara would be if given a nano-controlling unit?"

Tara shot Willow her own 'what the hell?' look before shyly averting her head even as Giles frowned, "how do you get Tara's possible nano-profession from a duck?"

Willow grinned, almost bouncing in her seat at putting one over her mentor, "what 'quack' slang for?"

"Well, a Doctor of course…." Giles paused, and then sighed, glancing heavenwards as if asking for divine patience, "The thought processes of modern teenagers never fail to bemuse and terrify me"

Willow chuckled outright, even as Tara hid her smile behind the palms of her hands.


	12. Chapter 5H

**Adventurer Xander  
by Chaoseternus**

**Five H**

"Davis will live," Cordelia shrugged, "he'll know about if for a while. Buffy did enough to keep him alive long enough for me to get there, but at most, she's a medic. Oz could have done better…"

Buffy shrugged, "showed up just after you did, absolutely swimming in vamp dust. Betting somebody tried for the bounty"

"Bounty?" O'Neill asked carefully.

Faith snorted, "pass, it's a rather tempting number"

The Colonel nodded, "fine, now what happened?"

"Vampire attack," Riley commented shortly, edgy at the presence of a senior military officer when technically he was a deserter.

"Funny, but you know what?" O'Neill replied sarcastically, "one of my men is injured; in fact, one of my men looks to have had his throat ripped out. I'm not particularly in the mood for funny"

"Okay," Riley shrugged, "Vampire attack and I'm afraid I'm not kidding"

O'Neill paused, "you are"

"Not,"

"Are"

"Children" Faith commented amused, walking up to the group, "do I have to order you to separate corners?"

"Yes M'am" Riley and O'Neill responded, O'Neill sarcastically, Riley bemused.

"You Riley, stop provoking the colonel, he cant help it that nobody has popped his cheery yet," Faith clipped the soldier around the ear, "and as for you Colonel, we can prove that vampires exist"

O'Neill blinked, then shrugged, "okay"

Riley raised a surprised but calculating eyebrow, "you took _that _awfully calmly"

O'Neill shrugged, "Used to weird, if you can prove it, then it's just another one to chalk up in the 'suppress if you wish to sleep' category"

Faith chuckled darkly, "not all of us have the option of suppressing it, for some of us, it's our life"

"So long as it isn't your 'unlife'" O'Neill drawled back, and Faith laughed, knowing at that moment, if she could prove it, O'Neill would be able to accept and live with all the weird the Scooby's had to deal with. It made him an unusual but perhaps useful potential ally.

"Do you think they were serious when they said Vampire Attack?" Carter asked carefully, gazing across the hall speculatively at the lounging yet still alert figure of Faith.

"Yes," O'Neill replied, "said she could prove it too"

"You can't believe that," Carter grinned bemused at her CO, "Vampires are myth, nothing more"

"So are the Goa'uld," O'Neill pointed out, "right now, there are enough oddities that I am willing to accept that vampires or at least, a creature that may be responsible for the vampire legend may be active in the area"

Carter nodded, accepting that for the moment, "alien?"

O'Neill shrugged, "we'll see"

* * *

"O'Neill," Teal'c said pensively, "we may experience some difficulty in removing Daniel from the premises" 

"Oh?" O'Neill asked, not moving from the foot of Davis's bed, "what's up?"

"He found the library," O'Neill winced, but Teal'c hadn't finished, "I'm afraid to announce that he is behaving like…"

The tall black, totally fearless and dangerous Jaffa warrior shuddered fearfully, "triple espressos"

"Oh _shit _" O'Neill replied, eyes wide.

* * *

Carter was annoyed, how could these people be stupid enough to talk about vampires, demons and magic as if they were real? 

She could see the more primitive branches of humanity mistaking technology and aliens for such but these people were Earth human, they had to have some idea of what you could do with the correct set-up, they couldn't truly believe the rubbish they were spouting.

They certainly appeared to though, and worse, it was mixed in with technological terms, some suggesting high levels of technical capability beyond that of the Earth normal humans, suggesting that they saw both as real and used such.

It was madness, that's all it could be, and if one of them said magic just one more time…

"Right," Carter barked, officially pissed off, "how do you scientifically explain magic then?"

The one called Willow shrugged, "dimensional bleed-over"

Carter blinked, "whaaaa?"

"You are aware of the differences between alternate realities and different dimensions right?"

Carter glared at the teen, annoyed by her supercilious tone, "alternate realities are like a tree, where a new branch comes off every time a decision is made. Dimensions refer to different trees entirely, the 'everything goes' principle, everything will be true in at least one dimension"

"Simplistic," Willow nodded, "but at least you have the basic idea"

Carter carefully bit off her retort, no point revealing to this individual that she had deliberately dumbed it down for her.

"Okay, there is a weakening in the _dimensional _barriers inside Sunnydale" Willow shrugged, "the dimension in question is one where the Laws of Physics are secondary to what we would call the laws of magic. It is also a dimension which by its very nature, is extremely hostile to life as we know it"

Carter nodded; her mind racing as she automatically categorized, filled and expanded on the various possibilities represented.

"This breech is sealed, but weakly, not only have the seals been breeched in the past, but it allows a certain amount of, as I said, dimensional bleed over"

Carters jaw dropped, "you mean when you are talking about demons you are referring to creatures not of this dimension?"

"Demons _is _a contraction of dimensional monsters" Willow pointed out, "but it isn't just beings which cross the barrier, the important point in this instance is that the _rules _cross that boundary too"

"Wait," Carter was shocked, "when you are referring to 'magic', you are referring to the ability to manipulate the rules of this universe using the rules of a different universe"

"Precisely," Willow replied.

"Which means," Carter mused, "a magic user on this breeching would be more powerful then anywhere else on this world"

Willow nodded her confirmation.

"And a magic user off world would probably not be able to utilise there extra abilities at all,"

Carefully, Willow filed away that 'off world' for future reference, but Carter hadn't finished, "Could that be what is interfering with our scans of the area? The presence of this breech and the 'bleed-over' of dimensional laws?"

Willow shrugged, happy at having found somebody of sufficient intelligence and training to discuss the local situation on a high, scientific level. She needed someone to bounce ideas off, and a different perspective was always useful.

"Oh my God," Carter gasped out suddenly, "I can't believe that somebody just explained the physics behind magic to me"

Willow grinned, "and did it logically too"

"Don't remind me," Carter groaned, feeling the swift onset of a headache.


	13. Chapter 5I

**Adventurer Xander  
by Chaoseternus**

**Five I**

"What you are telling me is that the group you have been investigating appears to be heroic,"

O'Neill nodded, glancing thankfully up at Teal'c as the tail warrior handed him a cardboard mug of coffee. Grimacing, he adjusted himself on the hard, dirty cucumber green of the hospital seats, careful not to let the drink spill or the phone drop from his hands, "well, I've seen nothing that indicates they aren't being honest with us. They _are _suppressing information but that's a different matter, we would too after all"

There was a quiet pause on the other end of the phone, "are you sure they are human?"

"Close enough for government work," O'Neill snorted, glancing across at the 'Oz' person who was casually standing at the door to Davis room, his expression impassive enough to give Teal'c a run for his money, "besides, odd though some of them may be, if they have come in from off-world then they have been here long enough to have adapted the culture as there own"

O'Neill and Teal'c both missed the slight surprised widening of Oz's eyes at that little piece of confirmation. It was natural that they missed it though, Oz was at the other end of a long and busy corridor and no mere human could have heard him at that range. An adventurer with perception buffs set is the most perceptive creature in the universe though.

"Do you think we would be able to recruit them into the program?"

O'Neill paused, "we won't get the whole group. I've yet to see confirmation but they appear to have been level with us till now and if they are to be believed; there is a threat in the area which needs monitoring"

"What sort of threat?"

The colonel paused, taking a sip from his coffee, "would you believe vampires?"

"Vampires,"

"Yep,"

O'Neill heard a long sigh down the line, "any other team and I would have them placed into Doctor McKenzie's care. But SG-1… Why is it that I find myself suddenly wanting to hide a stake and a supersoaker of holy water in the car?"

Carefully, O'Neill made an impressed mental note of the supersoaker comment, "maybe insanity is catching?"

"No," Hammond shot back, "I'm just used to the insane amounts of trouble SG-1 is capable of finding"

O'Neill quietly conceded the point, "so far, I have not seen proof of the vampire threat…"

The Colonel blinked, and then shook his head, amused that he had managed to get that out with a straight face, "but apparently we are being taken to have our 'cherries popped' tonight"

There was a muffled snort from Hammond's end of the line, "report back after the mission then"

The line went dead and sighing, O'Neill rose, tossing his phone into his pocket, to check on Davis.

"A Seer," Giles shook his head, "the Powers That Be are up to something"

Buffy snorted, "The Powers that be a pain in my arse aren't even being _subtle _about it"

"Quite," Giles shook his head, "if Tara is to be believed and well, I don't doubt her integrity, then Dawn has a destiny amongst the stars but first, we have a threat that we need to deal with"

"Cant leave the hellmouth unguarded," Buffy pointed out.

"You are right of course," Giles shook his head, "but we are powerful now and most of the threats are purely grey to us. This area no longer needs the full permanent strength of the Org, though I do say, leaving a team here on a rotating basis is still a must"

"So," Buffy shook her head, "we talk to Xander, see if he can dig out his newbie level supplies again and arrange nano-controlling units and belts for Dawn and Tara. Those two will need to stay here a while to train before we risk them off-world, I'd guess maybe three bodies to assist and we have the hellmouth team"

"The rest of us I presume are Colorado bound?"

"If the visions Tara are having are genuine PTB then we have too," Buffy shrugged, "best if you make them think it's their idea though"

Giles glanced up, resisting the urge to roll his eyes at the young woman he looked upon as his Daughter, "I doubt I will need to do anything, they seem intelligent enough to realise we could be an assets, all we need to do is let them see us as a potential ally as we are doing and they should approach us"

Buffy shrugged, "I will take your word for it. Now, just one problem remains… well, two"

"Oh," Giles frowned, "what would those be?"

"The NID," Buffy paused, "oh yes, and mum"

"Ahh," Giles replied, hiding a slight smile, "I can see you might have an interesting time with the latter one Buffy"

"Thanks," the Slayer drawled back, unamused.


	14. Chapter 5J

**Adventurer Xander  
by Chaoseternus**

**Five J**

"Just why are we leaving town Buffy?" Joyce replied, frowning, somewhat bemused at her daughter, "I mean, I have friends here, the gallery, you have your duty here."

"Actually," Buffy grimaced, "it's kind of the duty that's taking me away. So, I hear Colorado Springs is good this time of year?"

Joyce dropped the potatoes she was peeling and turned away from the sink, "okay, I'll bite, what's in Colorado? Other then the military that is."

One glance at Buffy's face was enough, "the _military? _After what happened with the Initiative you're going to be working with the military again? Wait, you aren't thinking of taking them on are you?"

"No,"

"Well, that at least is a relief,"

"Though we may have to deal with a certain rogue military faction…"

Joyce glanced up to the heavens as if asking for patience, "I don't want to know. So, what are 'we' going to do doing in Colorado then?"

"Saving the world?" Buffy replied nervously.

Joyce laughed, it was a somewhat shrill, stressed laugh, "I should have seen that coming, what from this time? More demons?"

"Actually…" Buffy gulped, glancing at her mothers 'go on' expression, "alien invaders."

Joyce Summers blinked, "Alien Invaders?"

She sighed as Buffy nodded, "I'm the one back in LA in the clinic aren't I? Being hopped up on drugs because I've come to believe my daughter is truly a superhero."

"God no," Buffy spat back, shocked, "mum, if you were imagining this, I would have a lot more fun and a lot less pain, hell, sending of Ex's to hell, hospital visits…"

Joyce winced, "Point taken,"

"It's important mum," she replied quietly.

"Then we go, I'll just have to arrange a transfer for Dawn,"

The guilty, dismayed look on Buffy's face was enough, and it brought an angry and fearful expression shuttering down her mothers face. Carefully, calmly, Joyce tossed her paring knife into the sink, and turned her whole body to face her daughter.

"Don't tell me Dawn has become involved please?" Joyce pleaded.

"I'm sorry,"

"I see, and just who exactly decided that my youngest would be involved as well?"

"The Powers That Be," Buffy replied, intimidated by the look in her mothers eyes.

"And just where do I find these 'Powers That Be'?"

* * *

"This," Xander commented quietly, pointing to a fearful, squirming figure head tight in the jaws of Oz, currently polymorphed as a Sabre-toothed tiger, "is a fairly typical vampire of the minion class, not particularly intelligent or powerful, dangerous only to the untrained and unaware unless in large numbers," 

Reaching forward, he ripped the cross that Jack had been trying to hide underneath his jacket from his neck and pressed it against the human appearing figure in Oz's jaws. Said figure began screaming as his skin around the cross began smoking, the smell making Daniel and Samantha back away disturbed but Jack and Teal'c just winced, albeit barely perceptibly in Teal'c case at the many memories of battlefields the smell brought back and stepped forward to better examine the now obviously non-human captive.

Grimly, O'Neill faced Xander, "is the military doing anything about this?"

"Army tried too, NID managed to seize control of the project,"

O'Neill glanced at the vampire, not needing to ask how well that had gone, "bastards, they dead?"

"For the most part, it was the Army personnel already assigned to the project who died though Walsh, who was NID to the core, was killed and reanimated by the NID's latest toy, Adam," Xander shrugged, "destroyed Adam, saved what we could and the Army ended up catching the flak for the failed project."

"Was Riley part of this project?" Daniel asked perceptively.

Xander nodded, "publicly, he's listed as AWOL but those in the know generally scupper any attempt to track him down, in reality he's sort of our unofficial liaison to the Army, couldn't get full jackets on you guys though."

Nodding, Jack made a mental note to investigate which Army officers had been trying to pull his file recently, "so, how do we kill it,"

Xander snorted, "well not with garlic, all it does is irritate their noses, but stakes, decapitation, fire, sunlight, even holy water if you're clever with it will kill vampires,"

Oz growled, the sound making the vampire trapped between his jaws whimper, and Oz bit down, shaking his head violently. The vampires head went one way, the legs flew off another and the whole creature dusted.

Xander grimaced, not noticing the subtle and not so subtle collectively wincing by the members of SG-1, "or there's that, but the dust tastes bloody awful and frankly, washing your mouth out is highly recommended pretty damn quickly. The thought of accidentally eating vamp dust is not funny."

"No," Jack gulped, sending a glance of horrified admiration at Oz, "I would guess not."


	15. Chapter 5K

**Adventurer Xander  
by Chaoseternus**

**Five K**

There are few things scarier then a mother determined to protect her child. That was not something Xander Harris had ever experienced from his own mother, but it was certainly something he picked up on damn quick when he arrived at the Summers house with basic nanocontrollers and belts for Dawn.

Subsequently, he left the house minus _two _sets of nanocontrollers and with an increased dose and respect for the senior Summers, who had momentarily appeared as dark red (major shit-your-pants threat) on his NCU in the middle of her tirade, despite being nothing more then ordinary, unboasted human.

Needless to say, he wasn't going to argue when she too demanded nanocontrollers, and the org, as a result, gained another bureaucrat.

Oh yes, and Xander decided, quite wisely, never ever to piss off Mrs Summers.

In the meantime, Colonel O'Neill was making a lengthy phonecall to General Hammond, a phone call which, unsurprisingly enough where SG-1 was concerned, involved the General reaching once more for the industrial strength Antacids.

"Vampires are real,"

"Yep,"

"Are you sure they aren't just some form of alien? I mean, there has to be a scientific explanation for this…"

"According to Carter, the scientific explanation is that they're demons," O'Neill shook his head, "she been acting oddly the last couple of days though, kinda self-shocked ever since she and Willow had some sort of discussion involving long boring words."

Sensibly, Hammond didn't comment.

"Still, she says she's convinced and I trust her so…"

Hammond groaned, "I will be having a long discussion with Carter when she gets back,"

"If you're lucky, you may even understand half of it,"

"Colonel!" Hammond spat out reprimandingly even as he privately admitted his agreement to himself.

"So, we're getting reinforcements,"

"Are you sure they can be trusted?"

"Yes," O'Neill didn't hesitate; Hammond didn't fail to notice this.

"How many?"

"Not sure, certainly enough for a full team," O'Neill replied, "still some questions over whose staying, who's coming. The local area needs a team permanent, but their full strength is very much overkill for normal operations,"

"Is there a need for rapid response to Sunnydale?"

"Oh yes," O'Neill grimaced, "if only half of what I have heard is true, then we need to set up a Bright Boy level response procedure for this town."

Hammond blinked, "Do I really want to know?"

"Not over the phone, no."

"Fine, get me a list as soon as possible and I will try to set up clearances,"

"Some of these kids will already have clearances," O'Neill commented.

"Let me guess," Hammond finally responded, "not over the phone, even a secured line?"

"Right,"

* * *

"I don't like this," Giles commented, glancing around the room at the assembled Org members, "we are leaving Sunnydale without any of our more effective researchers," 

"Not that we have had to do much researching the last few months," Xander pointed out.

"True," Giles replied, "but the whole strength of the Org was here. Frankly, with full strength most of the creatures I would otherwise have to research, we were able to just batter into submission. However, with reduced strength and with us being far enough away to make rapid response problematical, not to mention, this gate the military is supposed to control, we need somebody here who is good at research, and you've placed both of our best researchers on the team headed for this 'SGC'"

"That certainly a point, but Oz, Faith, Riley and Tara should be able to hold the hellmouth,"

"I should go with you," Tara shakily interjected, "my visions haven't… they've never included the hellmouth, it has always been Dawn and the Stargate."

"A point," Xander admitted, "but that leaves Sunnyhell under strength now,"

"Willow has to go to the SGC," Buffy interjected, "that we can't change. These guys might be our best hope for new NCU's, new nanoprograms, her expertise is needed."

Jenny glared at the Slayer, who grimaced, sending the technopagan turned nanotechnician an apologetic glance, "which means Jenny needs to go to the SGC too, as the new stuff is their joint project."

"Which means Giles has to come as well," Xander concluded, "I'm not going to split you two up,"

Giles shot Jenny a resigned look, who bit her lip but reluctantly nodded in agreement, "I am afraid you may have too. Sunnydale needs a researcher on site, which means me or Willow. Willows work may benefit the all of us and as much as it pains me to say it, if that means we have to carry on a long distance relationship, then that is what we must do."

Xander sighed, but nodded, "I was hoping to avoid that."

"So," Riley frowned, glancing up from a sheet of paper, now covered in writing, strike-through, notes, "Giles must stay here, Willow and Jenny need to go to the SGC as do Tara and Dawn due to the visions, both Mrs Summers and Buffy are headed for the SGC as well because Dawn has to go…"

Riley shook his head, "that's one for Sunnydale and seven so far for the SGC with five to be assigned,"

"Great," Cordelia snorted, "think we can get it right on this, what is it, the tenth attempt?"

"I'll stay," Faith leant backwards in her seat, the front legs rising off the ground, "you need a tank in good old Sunnyhell anyway, but we'll need a healer."

Riley grunted, "Xander, Oz or Cordelia for healer,"

"I go with Willow," Oz replied.

"Shit," Xander commented disgusted, "I had hoped to go to the SGC,"

"Oh, don't stop on my account," Cordelia snorted, "who am I to stop the geekgasms the first time you set foot on another world?"

"I won't leave you Cordy, and the Sunnydale crew does need a healer,"

"Fine, you go, I'll stay, simple see?" Her expression betrayed how simple it wasn't though.

"Cordy…"

"Go,"

It was Riley who broke the awkward silence that followed, "I'll stay too, cant leave just three people covering this town,"

Xander nodded, "okay, those who are going, go and pack, O'Neill said he would arrange transportation and quarters for us. Those who are staying, well, go scare some monsters for us, okay?"


	16. Chapter 5l

**Adventurer Xander  
by Chaoseternus**

**Five L**

The send off for the Scooby's was planned by Faith and done her usual fine and 'subtle' style. That meant three days of intensive patrolling and assaults on known nests, decimating the already small population of hostile demons in Sunnydale, followed by a party.

It being a Scooby party meant it was held over the bodies of the luckless demons that had mere hours ago tried to take the hellmouth from the 'mere' humans who were guarding it and attempt open up a portal to hell. The response to that was very much to the point. The sword point in fact.

It was considered by many to be a good send off and very much in the Scooby tradition. The response of the SG-1 team to this is perhaps best not printed.

The following morning, the group completed loading their possessions onto several loaned Air Force trucks and then proceeded to Sunnydale Airport where trucks and humans were loaded onto a pair of Hercules transports and flown to the Airforce Academy at Colorado Springs.

From there, it was a relatively short trip to the mountain that would be their temporary home until they could find accommodations off base.

* * *

"Very… utilitarian," Xander drawled, his eyes wandering over the bare concrete and pipe walls, the floor with its painted and somewhat faded guidelines, all of which screamed industrial, none of which screamed 'homely' or 'welcoming'. 

"Well," Jack replied smirking, "we do try to brighten up the place every now and again; unfortunately wall paint has been banned ever since somebody drew a nice caricature of Kinsey as the Devil on the canteen walls."

Oz raised an eyebrow, simply commenting, "caricature?"

"Officially, yes," Jack smirked, leading the group into the briefing room, "unofficially…"

"Colonel," came the warning note from within the room, making Jack glance around startled to see General Hammond already sat down and waiting, a rather battered looking Disaster Davis at his side.

"Major," Jack smiled as he gestured the visitors to the seats, "good to see you again,"

Davis shuddered, his eyes somewhat dark with remembered fear and pain, "good to be seen again,"

"And on that note," Hammond interjected, "I would just like to thank you for acting and saving the Majors life, as much as we often dread seeing him he is a valuable member of the team here,"

Xander shrugged as he slipped down into the seat directly opposite the General, "That was Faith and Riley, and those two are the main fighters of the Sunnydale team,"

"I see," Hammond nodded, "well, SG-1 have vouched for you and certain members of your group already have significant clearance, but before your briefed properly on our mission here there are a few points that need to be cleared up…"

Xander nodded, leaning forward in his seat, "We cant tell you everything, some answers we don't know, some aren't ours to tell,"

The General nodded, displeased but understanding, "lets start with exactly how you all came to have this 'nano-technology' shall we?"

Xander grinned, "Well, it started with Halloween…"

**To Be Continued in _Adventurers Gate… _**


End file.
